The Reckoning
by ingra-of-mordor
Summary: The final confrontation isn't what anyone expects it to be. Now Kagome is left to question her abilites and face the ultimate darkness...with her greatest enemy...NarKag
1. Default Chapter

The Reckoning

Prologue

Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Inuyasha...

She had to wonder if the miko had done it on purpose...to ensure her victory and possession of Inuyasha.

The girl knew Kikyo well because in a way, Kikyo was with her since her birth. Not consciously, no, but hidden deep and not wanting to be acknowledged...hidden willingly. At times, there were moments when a sudden thought would bloom...especially near the God Tree. When she was younger, she used to sleep-walk sometimes. There were many journeys outside with the grass under her feet felt in her dreams but not waking her, and stepping on clouds, she would be pushed away by the rough feeling of the bark against her palm. Sometimes she would awake smelling of grass and tears with stains on the pillows.

Sometimes she felt some balance, some calming force in her seldom solitude that was bemusing. It was like looking through a mirror, full of angles. The colors would shift ever so slightly as she studied them...alone.

Then she would forget for the days were long and the friends were endless as were the chores. She saw life simply because it was routine but a pleasant one. She was normal but herself. There was only one Kagome in her world. That's what her mother had said, you are special, you are precious. You are my joy.

Those words were lost the moment she crossed times, not knowing she had someone else inside her whom another would find to be more precious.

Kikyo doomed them all. Unintentionally...she didn't know.

When Kikyo left her soul, she felt unburdened. She never knew she was burdened...it was like a man who was born with a pound of rocks on his back and never knew he could stand straighter. Now she could never go back. The colors grew brighter and her steps lighter.

Kagome found something precious to her. It was as unknown as the Shikon Jewel that had lurked in her body, the desired power that would bind her to the past with her guilt of shattering it. At first, that was the only thing that had the power to bind her, her responsibility. Then the whole situation grew complicated, very un-routine.

Kagome remembered everything about that day, every shade on the tree, the surprisingly crisp air free of smoke, and the expression on his face...her evaporating fear and the undetected tug on her heart that made her approach the boy with the snow white ears and touch them. She wondered later if that was really her because it had been one of those moments similar to the night and the colors. She wondered if it had been a hidden desire of Kikyo's still fragmented in her that made her do so...some fragment of Kikyo's life, a shard smaller than the Shikon shards. His ears had been very soft, and she was warmed and felt something bloom in the back of her mind.

She had always wanted to touch his ears again but had lost that drive. It must have been Kikyo.

Kikyo...the one she could never be.

Funny that it was Kikyo who separated herself fully from Kagome. That was the irony of it. Kikyo acquired Midoriko's soul in order to heal herself from her wounds and finally obtain the key to defeat Naraku...the one Kagome always saw herself defeating.

Yeah, it was stupid and somewhat arrogant. But Miroku had faith in her. In their first encounter with that monster, he had taken her aside.

"Kagome-sama, you were...unbelievable. And you have had no training?" His eyes were unusually serious. She was not use to that sort of look, the one where another relies on you fully.

"No. In my time, there is no need for that sort of thing. It just...kind of happened."

Kagome laughed lightly, letting the monk know not to expect much from her as she was a normal girl.

He studied her for a moment then smiled deeply.

"Well, I certainly hope it happens again." He paused to observe a battered Sango who was lying on the ground trying to heal from the affects of Naraku's miasma.

"Excuse me, I must tend to Sango."

That was all that was said. Kagome was scared that someone who had suffered so much would rely on her whom had suffered so little. She felt...like she was misleading him.

Then she knew suffering...

Then she knew she had to accept her lot and do the best she could. The Shikon Jewel was a burden she had brought back with her, and she must destroy it before it destroyed everyone involved. Before Inuyasha could be hurt anymore...she would do anything to keep Inuyasha from suffering anymore.

That is why she despised Naraku who had caused Inuyasha's pain...and Miroku's and Sango's. She wanted to be the one to destroy him.

Pity, Kikyo did the unthinkable.

It was strange and would make her question her given knowledge of the dead miko.

Was it jealousy...or just a mistake, a fatal miscalculation? Was the miko jealous of life and those living...was she jealous of Kagome?

Kagome stopped questioning. She knew it was the mutual jealousy between them that had caused Inuyasha's final suffering and the darkness that spread throughout time.

Kagome wouldn't have believed the outcome of any of it if she had not been there. Kikyo bore a grudge that prevented her from resting, that was understandable. Then it should have been Naraku who was killed. No...

Kikyo...'inadvertently' let him go...as well as Kagome. Instead, she took everything that Kagome held precious into death with her...everything and left Kagome locked in a bond with her greatest enemy. She left her reincarnation with the greatest burden of all.

Kohaku had been sacrificed. The boy was torn from his recovered memories and hastily agreed to Kikyo's demands to the last shard embedded in his back. He hastily agreed to cut his false life. Kagome had been so...ashamed that Kikyo had come from her soul and that Inuyasha had not stopped the death of Sango's little brother. She felt filthy that Kikyo had been inside of her, the coldness and emptiness. She felt worthless.

She couldn't believe...

Sango wanted to kill Kikyo, but Inuyasha stopped the young woman harshly, roaring about the necessity of the act.

Kagome wondered if Kikyo couldn't have kept him alive somehow, but she didn't know the full extent of the miko's powers and couldn't fathom that she wouldn't have saved the young boy if she could have.

Sango withdrew completely, only acknowledging Miroku. It hurt Kagome that Sango who was like her sister would associate Kikyo's acts with her. Kagome knew that Sango realized that she was different, but Kagome wore Kikyo's face and that was enough. Sango remained through her grief beside Miroku who was her only form of family. It was her loyalty to the monk that kept her in the fight. The taijya had lost her hope; although she longed for Naraku's death, she had seen another take her brother's life...and that knowledge almost destroyed her. Kagome was sure that after the final confrontation, Sango would want revenge on Kikyo...and she knew Inuyasha would not allow that. Miroku would side with Sango. Where did that leave her? Who would she side with?

Unfortunately for her, she was spared that decision.

Kikyo had disappeared from the group several days before with Inuyasha chasing frantically after her. Kikyo was no longer...Kikyo. Kagome was familiar with the dark look in the miko's eye, the look of necessity. So when she awoke to find the two missing, she knew at that moment she would not be allowed to talk to Inuyasha again. It was necessity, an unknown motive for the person behind Kikyo's murky eyes.

Inuyasha did not return. Miroku's time was almost up. The wind tunnel had increased ten-fold, and Sango was wild with grief at the idea of losing another she loved.

Kagome was stung with Inuyasha's absence; it seemed he had made his choice. She could not help but achingly imagine what her situation would be if Naraku had succeeded in killing Kikyo. It would have been different. Inuyasha would be suffering but...she was selfish once again.

The day before the final strike, Kagome had wandered away from her two companions to allow them time to themselves. She did not fit in the picture. Shippo slept peacefully, and Kagome was left with her thoughts, wondering where it was that Inuyasha slept under the same sky. Fear pounded in her brain, she was frightened for him. It grew into a dagger in her heart; Kikyo wanted Inuyasha dead, and Kagome pictured Inuyasha's death repeatedly in her head, dying with each image. Kikyo did not deserve life if she desired to end someone else's, especially Inuyasha's.

She had started to run away from the camp, fighting the harsh branches and limbs, and into her own world, trying to find him again, calling to him wildly. He never answered.

It was chance that had allowed her to be present at the final moment. She had lost her way, sitting against a tree, rocking back and forth, sobbing. The morning bled through the trees, and she resented being there as a spare. She wanted to go home and thought about trying to find her way back to the village until...she spotted Naraku's demons in the sky, heading quickly south into the bleeding sun.

She followed them, tripping and sliding on the wet ground. Several times she fell, but she arose each time with more determination to see the conclusion...and to see Inuyasha one last time. So the fifteen-year old girl arrived at the scene uninvited.

Kagome skidded to a stop, struck by the thread uncurling in her senses. The energy from the Shikon jewel...was a darkness that cut her to the core. It was complete...and in Naraku's hands.

Kagome glimpsed a flash of pink and spotted Sango in a fray of demons, bleeding and struggling to knock them away. Miroku was shouting her name, holding his arm in pain. He was struggling to reach her. Kagome did not see Kirara or Shippo...or Inuyasha.

Naraku was standing above the pair, laughing wildly. He was about to do it...he was about to become a full-demon. And she did not have her bow.

Kagome launched herself over the hill and began sliding down into the pit of demons. She felt Naraku's burning eyes upon her, but she didn't care. It really didn't matter anymore. She had to be there in the end, had to get to her friends!

The mass of demons came fast and mercilessly, cackling in blood lust, and gritting her teeth, she prepared to run straight into them.

Inuyasha was dead, that's why Naraku had the jewel of Four Souls, and that's why it was time for her to die as well. Her miko powers were shattered by her realization, and she was fatally normal. Miroku had been wrong, she could not change anything. Might as well-

A swirl of crimson and the demons were gone, and in their place, with his sword slung over his sword and golden-eyes glimmering in battle, was Inuyasha. Kagome halted abruptly and wanted to say something. He looked at her with his mouth slightly ajar and his eyes full of...so many things...wonderment, joy, maybe love...she had affected him somehow. She knew that, and she wanted to say something. Time stopped fully, vibrating on a thread.

Naraku was not there nor was the mass of demons nor was the corrupted energy nor was Miroku's distressed shouts...Kikyo was not there. He was there and uttered her name, piercing her.

"Kagome." It was a whisper of helplessness, and she wanted to do nothing less than hold him and say it was okay, that she understood. A sad joy lined his eyes, and purplish circles marred his face. He had not slept. Neither had she.

She was going to tell him how she felt; it was on her lips.

"Inuyasha, I-!"

Kikyo appeared from behind him, bow in hand and wind whipping up her hair in torrents. She appeared ethereal, mournfully beautiful, and more marble than ever before. She looked not of this world with her lips shaped so. Her dark eyes were so large they spoke of misery yet eternity. She looked like she was underwater or stuck in time with them. She dared to look...helpless.

She had broken into their moment and it faded from memory as he turned his gaze to Kikyo alone.

And that was it...

"Kagome, stay out of the way."

The tone transformed into indifference, and then they were gone in a blur of red and white. She sank to her knees and wept, striking the ground with her fists. She could not hear Miroku anymore and thought that he had given up too.

Crawling her way back towards the edge of the woods, she leaned up against a tree for support and dug her nails into the bark. She let her gaze fall upon the dark demon that seemed to be drinking in the sight of her defeat. Finally he had seen her crack. She glared up at him, and in turn, he held out his hand to let her see the Shikon jewel, blazing with darkness.

Then his cold sneer changed to an expression of surprise and pain. Her heart skipped at what she was sensing.

_Inuyasha..._

The Shikon Jewel seemed to be pulsating, and her head hurt.

Again she shrank back as time seemed to stop...for Naraku had flung the jewel away from him, staggering back. Her knees locked in disbelieve...something in her told her to run. What could knock Naraku back like that?

She watched morbidly as the darkness in the jewel began to slither...interweaving between itself. A figure emerged from the darkness, and then she fell into darkness.

Author note:

I've obsessed over Inuyasha so much that I just felt compelled to try an Inuyasha fic. So yeah, tell me what you think, if it's boring or something. If you no like, I'll think up something else.


	2. The Shadows Locked in Dreams

Disclaimer: I don't own Inu...(sob)

Thanks for reviewing! You guys motivated me to continue. I'm glad you like my story, thank you for your kind words, and I hope I don't disappoint.

The Reckoning:

Chapter 1: The Shadows Locked in Dreams

_Did she believe in fate? Yes...how else who she have been involved in a time that was not her own. Yet...she didn't belong anywhere. Fate robbed her blind, in every possible way: the modern life that she still longed for with all its noise and traffic, success...and her family. Kagome was trapped now in the midst of chaos without her friends...without Inuyasha. Yes, Fate was red, a crimson thread that was indifferent. It wore red when in reality, it was ice. Perhaps she had dared to do too much by walking into time and containing the Shikon Jewel. It was her fault. She was marked and properly chained. _

_She had denied Inuyasha peace. _

_She heard the bells...the laughter of the wind in her memory. Kagome had gone to study the night sky in the Feudal Era, to know the stars as she could not before. And as she sat there, she realized glumly that she had seen this sky before through another's eyes...so she was robbed of the experience. It was still beautiful in its vastness and comforting presence, radiating like a familiar blanket, and she struggled to make this night her own. It was the eve of spring and the air was full of secrets and veils running against her skin. What would tomorrow bring? Would she be sitting here tomorrow? Kagome amused herself by laying down on the soft, welcoming grass, twirling the blades between her fingers and wondering what was in her future. She hadn't heard him come from behind her. _

"_What are you doing, just lying there?" Crossing his arms, Inuyasha looked up, trying to determine what she saw. _

_She glanced up at him then stifled a gasp. It was one of those moments when she was alone and her sight shifted, freed, and he was there in the night...she couldn't describe what she saw, but she could try. He was silver and gold, precious metal but mercury and soft. He seemed like he was only for night, this part of Inuyasha, and he would disappear in the morning and become...this Inuyasha was the one she couldn't have. Maybe that's why it was so magical, eclipsing her darkness now. Shrouded...he seemed so gone already. _

_She didn't answer, and he grew impatient. _

"_Feh...can't you talk?" It wasn't the nicest thing but it made her laugh because his words were so different from what he looked like right now. _

"_I'm just...looking at the stars. In my time, you can't see them."_

"_Why not? Did the spirits leave your time?"_

"_Spirits?" _

_She looked up again in confusion, scrunching her brow, and he settled comfortablely besides her, still looking heavenwards. _

"_Yeah, you know, the stars are spirits. That's what my mother...used to say. Whenever you're alone, look at the stars watching you. The spirits that burn in the sky are with you, protecting you...but I don't really think those lights are spirits. I used to but it's foolishness." His expression was dark, golden eyes marred with his past, and her Inuyasha was lost again. _

_Kagome felt...incredibly sorry and propped herself on her elbows to study him, the moon light dancing on his features and tracing him into her memory. _

"_Inuyasha...I think your mother was right. I believe...that they are spirits." She knew the truth but...it was important to say. _

"_Why can't you see them in your time if they are?" _

"_Well, just because you can't see something, doesn't mean it isn't there. In the future, we made a lot of our own lights, and they block out the stars...but that makes them even more important to me...Inuyasha."_

_His golden eyes still held some...something else, and he looked away abruptly...in pain...like he was burnt...like...he couldn't stand the sight of her. _

"_What? What is it?" Kagome asked, startled. Is he sick...what's the matter with Inuyasha?! She reached out her hand, but before she could touch his shoulder..._

"_You...brought back a memory for me." _

_At first, she was pleasantly confused. Was it about his mother? Then she realized...who he was talking about. She rose quickly, but he grabbed her hand firmly. She was momentarily halted by the warmth of his hand against her wind-kissed skin. _

"_Don't go," he whispered softly, pleadingly. _

"_Why not?!" Kagome was furious...but not at Inuyasha,. Kikyo had stolen another moment from her yet again. _

_He stared at her, not responding, and she threw off his hand and prepared to storm away. _

"_Wait...K-_KIKYO!!"

Kagome jerked awake, stunned and not knowing where she was. She hurt...very badly. Every point on her body burned and pounded, and her heart wouldn't slow. Something was...horrible. Something was in the air. Her senses recoiled, and she tried to stand up to get away from whatever it was that was near. She wanted to run, in her heart of hearts, she wanted to run. Feeling warmth running down her mouth, she realized it was blood. From who...it was hers.

Shaking, she stared at the redness in her hands, feeling detached...feeling very much away and like she just couldn't wake up.

Then his shouts pierced her through and drug her from her daze. Then the world exploded...quite literally. The silence that had been there when she regained consciousness shattered, and madness seeped through.

"KIKYO!! I'M COMING! DON'T YOU DARE DIE ON ME!!" Inuyasha's voice was full of anger and poorly disguised fear.

And Kagome couldn't help herself...the thought was the first thing that was clear and firm...and sharp. _Isn't it a little late for that...Inuyasha! _She gritted her teeth and glared poison towards the direction of his voice.

And was struck again...by what she sensed and knew was there. She had felt that too, and she just remembered like it was a bad dream. It was a bad dream for it had been in her dreams along with tears, fire, and the sound of an arrow. It was from the Jewel, it had been in the Jewel that had been part of her at one time. She knew it had been there...that hissing inside in her dreams. Cold needles of horror burned through her, and she felt tears blind her. How could she not have known that danger?! Why didn't KIKYO KNOW!!!

Kagome staggered to her feet against the tree and watched. It was all she could do now.

It was too late.

Something had devoured Naraku's hoard of demons. Every single demon was gone, and a great...darkness covered the former battle ground, withering. She could see fragments of the demons inside it, they were clawing and biting to get to freedom, and it was too late. Where were...

"SANGO!" she choked out though her voice seemed trapped in her throat. No...they weren't....

"MIROKU! SHIPPO!" Dread strangled her heart, sending waves of hysteria into her screams. "INUYASHA!!!"

She couldn't see them...not even Naraku was to be seen. Instead, since Fate decreed it so, the first one and only one she saw when she woke was Kikyo...who dared to look surprised, eyes wide and distressed through the eternal death that kept them glazed. It was the first time Kagome had ever seen any true emotion on Kikyo's face, but then again, Midoriko was there too. The miko's body was under assault from the darkness that reached and grabbed for her. Her holy powers were fading, cursed now. Besides her eyes, there was no sign of realization or panic, only a cold acceptance. She had known death before, burning and lying behind Kagome's eyes. Kagome knew.

_I know what you did...YOU DID THIS ON PURPOSE!! DAMN YOU!_

Kagome wanted to fling these words towards the priestess, but she had no strength. Words of hatred buzzed in her ears, and she wanted to do something. Do something to Kikyo who...

_Inuyasha..._

Slow motion...so slow she barely saw it for when the hanyou appeared from the darkness, swinging his blade in a large arc, her heart clinched but her hope grew. She mentally called to him, and for the briefest of moments, he turned his head, hair around his face like a halo. But the look in his eyes was animalistic and chained; he was losing strength.

Kagome believed that she motioned towards him to come to her and abandon Kikyo. It was a very selfish thing, and she hoped that she didn't really do so. She hoped that it had been a figment of her imagination that hysteria had hatched. She hoped that in return, he didn't turn his back on her. But...he did and raced towards her other who stole her face, racing in a blur of crimson, wielding his father's fang, relying on its strength until...she didn't see him anymore.

He was gone. He died without her. He never needed her. In the end, she was alone. Her fears at night...were real. Kikyo's fears were now hers and hers alone. She drowned in the poison.

Kikyo looked apathetically towards the hanyou last was, with her mouth open in awe. During her rage, Kagome was repulsed.

Kikyo looked...like an artist would lovingly at his greatest masterpiece.

She had come from where she wasn't supposed to, and she had finally seen Inuyasha die.

_A doll...a nothing did this...a piece of death he embraced..._

A smile slashed her face although in her eyes a battle appeared to be raging. Kagome hissed in rage as she thought she saw remorse paint the miko's mask, making her appear like a tragic heroine. In her stoic facade, she seemed like she was justified and some divine rule had been achieved. In those eyes, love rotted into perversion.

Kagome shook with the urge to strike her, but her...some other emotion moved her legs and arms. Kagome lost sight of Kikyo as she began to pound towards the inky blackness, running through a fog, silent as the grave, with one light ahead...

_Inuyasha, I'm coming..._

One more step and she would join him...before Kikyo could. She hoped it didn't hurt, and then she could spend nowhere with him. They would be in the sky, and she would comfort him and tell him his mother was right. She could-

Then someone grabbed her wrist, and Kagome was jerked back an instant before she could reach her goal. She didn't notice in her panic what her captor had noticed...that the darkness didn't want her. It had recoiled as she approached.

Kagome tried to strike out because she had to beat Kikyo. If she didn't, Kikyo would win. Due to her emotions, her miko powers ignited like a thousand flames inside her and bit at her obstacle who hissed in pain but did not release her.

Kagome snarled and was about to struggle further, but something smashed against her head...and she remembered this moment even afterwards. Because she knew, through her pain and journeying with that pain, while fighting and watching the scene grow dark, that Kikyo had won.

_Not fai-_

She collapsed, and the other who brought misery picked the girl up. And he didn't mind as she jerked in her unconsciousness when she was pierced by his armor. That was immaterial.

Naraku backed away for the grasping shouki, holding the miko's body in front of him as a shield. The dark energy that had spread from the Jewel, his Jewel, had torn at his barrier and dared to attack him...it had pierced him...and had...

Injured, he fled. Something was gravely wrong...and he could hardly reach his fortress. The Jewel that he had sought, that he was created to seek, had almost destroyed him. That...thing inside it had misled...

The Inu-taichi...perhaps they...perhaps the mikos would contain it. It had ended quickly, and he burned. It had robbed him of their deaths. Inuyasha was to suffer because of him and him alone. He knew that it devoured Inuyasha very slowly, making sure it drew enjoyment, because it had felt his hatred for him.

The source of that energy was mocking him of his desire. It was stealing from him. It had been in his consciousness, curled-up, and he realized...it had been feeding off of him instead of the opposite.

He burned in his weakness for Onigumo had begun to whisper again, unbarred. What was he to do now? He was weak once more. What was he to do when it came to him again?

Then he saw that girl, that bitch who was the only reason Inuyasha wasn't already dead. That bitch who...

Naraku watched as the foolish girl ran forward to destroy herself. The darkness lurched away from her presence; it seemed to share his hatred of the miko. If she could keep it away...

Using his last vestiges of magic, he appeared just in time to stop the girl although it seemed the darkness would just abandon her. But he had noticed it had tried to form a circle around her in an attempt to...destroy her somehow.

It worked, his plan had worked. The dark energy could not touch him; it remained far and pulsed angrily in greed and desire but could not get close as long as he had the girl.

He smirked through his exhaustion...at first only at his foe. Then he spotted the dead miko being slowly intertwined in the shouki...the one he had failed to dispose of and the one who caused the energy in the Jewel to react against its master.

The dead bitch Kikyo had unbalanced the Jewel completely, leaving all his efforts to shatter. For, even though he wanted the Jewel completely corrupt in bloody beauty, he was no fool. That energy still had to be contained, manipulated just so...the energy that was seething into chaos and malice...

Although he knew to retreat, he couldn't help himself; he had to watch the end of that thorn in his side. He felt he owed the bitch his presence as her last, false breath leaves her earth-formed lips. He owed himself that last bit of satisfaction before his entire existence fell.

Her end...was quite satisfying. The shouki covered her until only her torso and face could be seen. He chuckled, holding her reincarnation and momentarily forgetting the Jewel's betrayal. He was thinking of her name.

Bellflower...she looked like a flower of death with black, inky petals framing her face. There was no red from her outfit seeping through and ruining the picture. It was just pallor and midnight. She still had on her mask; even till the end she never let that mask slip. She wouldn't give him that taste of pleasure to play in his memory.

Their eyes met, and she let nothing flicker in her gaze although his blazed. Then she was gone, and he fled with his shield in tow. The girl whimpered in her sleep, and strangely enough, he didn't notice. He sensed the dark energy following his movements and focused his efforts on his escape, leaping through the forest swift-footed and successfully melting into the night.

In the clearing, the darkness withdrew slowly, mockingly until no sign of battle remained. There were only two..._three _figures among the barren, blackened field that was once full of vitality.

One was a woman who held her youth, dressed in red and white that shown among the shadows. It was the Bellflower, and she remained unreal. She looked calmly at the spot that Naraku had defaced with his presence. Somewhere in the murk of her gaze, a sparkle of resurrected amusement danced. That bastard had believed himself spared, eh...his ego has grown greatly.

Behind her, in her shadow, lurked a being sprung from the Jewel. The same being that pulled the strings of Fate and escaped from its imprisonment at long last. It seethed but the miko did not acknowledge it. In her cypress-like hands, she studied the flickering light that remained in the crystal jewel.

Kikyo smiled falsely as it sparked in a silent, white-hot fury.

"I'm sorry for your discomfort...but it is necessary. I'm sure you understand, Midoriko."

Then there was the white-haired youth who lay prone on the ground, the wind making it appear as if he was still in motion. Kikyo approached him in a very casual manner, unusual to her normal motions. It was if someone else moved in her limbs, and the shade mimicked her figure on the dead ground, flowing like a dark wine.

She crouched by the figure, twirling one strand of silk between her slender figures until she grew bored. She touched one ear almost playfully; she frowned in frustration because she could not feel any warmth. Her reincarnation, that girl with her face, did...

"Inuyasha..._my _Inuyasha...don't you think it's time we ended this unpleasantness? Get up, Inuyasha and fight for _me_."

Her voice began softly, gently, blooming and falling from her lips, then turned dreadfully monotone. The figure on the ground stirred.

"Oh, and we can't have this bauble interfering now, can we?"

With that, Kikyo harshly removed the beads around his neck, scattering them into the wind to be forgotten.

And far away, another figure, covered in dirt and blood, stirred from forced sleep into wakefulness...and into what she had hoped to be a just a bad dream.

Author note: Thanks again to the talented authors who reviewed: Naroki, Elementsofmine, and profiler120. I admire all your stories, they are among my favorites actually. You guys rock!


	3. Matter of Circumstance

Author notes: Wow...I am so glad you guys like this story.

Thanks for the feedback!!

The Reckoning

Chapter 2: Matter of Circumstance

_Her mother knew she wouldn't be back._

_Her younger brother, Souta, had come into her room on that last night among them, that last night that would become merely...did it really happen at all?_

_She didn't know because to her shame, she changed the memory each time and fill it with bits of things that she had wished that she had said. Time ate away at their faces, and she lost sight of them. She tried to remember each day but it was a futile struggle. Because she had much now..._

_But she believed that her brother had come into her room that night, hesitating at the door and grasping the knob in his nerves. His footsteps stopped and the wood groaned in protest as he shifted back and forth. Yes, he was nervous for some reason, and she really didn't care. _

"_Don't you knock?" she muttered, scribbling away and trying to defeat a vicious geometry problem that she had put off till the last second. What was he doing up, anyway? It was one in the morning, she felt it in her limbs and her eyes were becoming blurry. She motioned at him to speak up without daring to tear her eyes away from the smudged paper. _

"_I think okaasan's crying. In her room. When I knocked, she didn't answer. So I didn't know what to do..." _

_Crying? Kagome looked up, her brother smeared from her tiredness. He looked very nervous in his over-grown pajamas and hair sticking straight up. _

"_Are you sure?" Of course, he would know but her mother had never shed a tear as far as she knew. Maybe he had been dreaming. _

_So she told him to go back to bed, and she journeyed down into the deceptive quiet. It was very hollow sort of quiet that fell across her, so she was half-relieved...when she heard the human sound of a soft sobbing. Still disbelieving her ears, she crossed cautiously towards the bedroom door where a pastel, pink light was seeping underneath. Her mother's favorite lamp by her bed side...the one with koi on the shade..._

_Kagome knocked with a lump in her throat. The sound dimmed, and the sound of a lock unlatching replaced it. _

_Her mother had indeed been weeping for her usually bright eyes were dark. But her mother put on a mask to hide unknown grief. _

"_Hai..." Her voice was laced with powdered sorrow through her smile. _

"_Are you all right...I thought I heard..." This was suddenly an intimidating situation indeed. _

_Her mother merely gazed at her from a moment, seeming to drink in the sight of her._

"_Come outside with me. You can see the stars tonight."_

_Taken back, Kagome wordlessly followed her mother outside where the stars welcomed them and where the God Tree stood guard. Even from here, Kagome glimpsed the arrow mark on the aged trunk. Her mother sat on the bench under the tree and motioned for her daughter to join her. _

_The moon danced around them both as they remained in a now comfortable silence that Kagome credited to the presence of the God Tree. _

"_It's been awhile since we have had time to talk, hasn't it?" Kagome glanced quickly at her mother, surprised by the declaration. Yes, it was true, but they would have time soon enough when she helped to finally repair the Shikon no Tama and cleanse it of defilement. Yet it was the first time that she had noticed her mother looking so aged, and she felt wrong that she had not seen that sooner. _

"_Hai." _

"_Do you remember when the year the festival came and you were so excited? I made your first traditional kimono, the one with the goshiki, and you wanted to wear it to school afterwards."_

_Kagome was warmed by the memory that seemed so long ago. It was long ago, wasn't? She was six, washing her face in the basins at the shrine and having her picture taken in front of the God Tree. The shrine in which she had wanted to reach the middle, the honden where only the purest could go, and she wasn't allowed to. _

"_I think I still have it in my closet," she said happily. _

"_You've grown so much since then. Sometimes I think...you've grown up before your time. You've become someone else."_

_Kagome was startled into silence and her mother continued on in her thoughts._

"_And I can't help but wonder how many mothers would have allowed their daughter to grow so fast. At first...I did so because I knew in my heart that traveling to Sengoku Jidai was in your destiny. But now I question the wisdom of that, I have no idea of the challenges you face there and often fear that...you will not return to me."_

"_Okaasan, Inuyasha will protect me. Nothing will happen to me along as he's there." _

_The words burst forth as a universal truth much like the sun will be in the sky tomorrow. She felt that was all she should say because it was definitely best her okaasan didn't know about some aspects of her other life. Kagome was sure that the older woman's imagination just didn't do justice to a past full of demons and spirits, including the 'big three': Sesshomaru, Naraku, and of course, Kikyo._

_Her mother looked troubled._

"_You are both very young."_

"_It's different in the past. Besides, the jewel is almost complete. Then I'll be at home, and you won't have to worry."_

_Kagome had trouble hiding her own fears in her voice, careful of layering over her doubts. When the jewel was complete, then what would become of her travels to the past? What would become of her relationship with Inuyasha? She was sure he felt something for her. She just knew it and heavily dreaded the end of the journey. _

"_Kagome, I...you are very dear to me, and each time it becomes harder to let you go into the well. None of us can ever be certain about our fates, and I...don't think you should go back again."_

_Kagome felt strangely betrayed by her mother, feeling resentment towards the woman who cared for her for the first time in her life._

"_That's not-." She bit off the word 'fair' because it sounded too childish. _

"_I have to." There were no words for how she felt about her journey to the past; Sengoku Jidai was too much a part of her, even more so than her life here. She was meant to be there and couldn't imagine herself... She just couldn't quit now. She wouldn't. _

"_I know."_

_Kagome was again taken back by the apparent acceptance in her mother's tone and she had to wonder at the purpose of their conversation. _

"_Promise me...that you'll keep in mind that what is right is never an easy path...do right by others. And...be happy." _

_A strange, wild horror was building in her because it seemed like her mother was saying good-bye. No..._

"_I-I'll be back. It's just for this week. And then I'll be home." She hated that she could only say the exact same thing but no other words would dare come. _

_Her mother brushed Kagome's hair back out of her face and merely nodded. But her eyes were still memorizing her face, glimmering with pride and mourning. Then she hugged her daughter and helped her pack for her last journey. _

_The final glance Kagome would have of her mother would be of her standing at the entrance of the wall, unspeakably composed and locked in acceptance. Yet her eyes were unlocked. As Kagome was engulfed in that familiar presence of the threads of time, she felt like crying herself. Because something wasn't right..._

_When she was sitting around the campfire, about to prepare a meal of Ramen for Inuyasha, she came across something silken and small. It was her old kimono._

_That night she had difficulty breathing or keeping a cheerful face through a deep hysteria surfacing that was commanding her to flee to the well. The next day Kikyo joined their group. But that night she could have sworn her mother had brushed back her hair again._

"Okaasan!" she cried, and then was thrown back from her efforts to rise.

Her back burned in protest, and as she awoke there, half off the futon, she stared blankly at the spider webs lurking in the rafts, trying to figure out what just happened. Because she had felt someone who...where was she?

Oh kami, where was she?! Where was Inu-

Then it opened up, the dam that was built during merciful sleep, and she knew that Kikyo had taken away everything, that the Jewel had become an entity of its own, reaching and grasping...

Where was she?

Her head pounded, and she could imagine the sound she had made when she hit the floor unconscious. Because she knew that someone had stopped her from...joining Inuyasha and judging by her position, had thrown her haphazardly across this small futon like a rag doll, a worthless thing...She felt like someone had stomped over her early grave.

Then she was struck. Terror unlike she had ever known before almost made her scream. Yet if she started screaming, she didn't know if she could stop. So she bit her lip and strangled the cry climbing up her throat. So she covered her mouth and smelt blood on her icy hands. Her wrist tingled in memory from the grip that halted her. She wanted to flee again, but something...she felt something in the room too.

Numbness made it hard to move and her heart was lead, but she jerked up, biting her lip, to stare wildly into the darkness that lay over the bare room, trying to find that something.

Nothingness greeted her instead...too much nothingness.

The room was too large with too many shadows to hide in. She needed to get out of there before she suffocated. It was silent in a way that pounded at her nerves, fraying them gleefully.

Kagome struggled to her feet, gripping her collar for no reason but panic and discovered that it had been torn. She would have fled from the smell that surrounded her but she knew it would follow her. There was blood on her uniform as well as dirt as well as her fear.

A very faint light helped her find the door which she clung to gratefully but distrusted. Kagome felt something on the other side of the door, an unpleasantly familiar darkness. Her heart sputtered to an indignant stop. Not him...anyone but him!

Then, quite suddenly, heat rose to her face. She was angry, filled to the top with anger!

_How dare he..._

She couldn't see through hot tears of resentment, balling her hands into painful fists as her nails pierced her palm. He survived after everything then had the nerve to bring her here!

Kagome was pleased as her emotions made her limbs movable, and she slid the door open with unthinkable force, hearing it slam into place successfully shattering the unnatural quiet, while snarling, figuring that is the action Naraku would expect the least.

She jumped into the room, tense and ready, come what may. Then, again, there was nothing. This room was even more barren, immaculate actually. It was almost alarmingly so, almost obsessively. Nothing like she would have expected from the dark hanyou. Kagome more expected heads on poles or something along that gruesome motif. Even though her thoughts were fragmented, she could reason the drive behind this appearance.

So much chaos inside, no room for chaos on the outside...

But there were plenty of shadows were he could be; yes, he belonged in the shadows. She practically felt him beside her, corrupting the very air she breathed yet she couldn't see him. It felt like spider webs were all over her, and she shuddered as she tensed in anticipation of a quick, excruciating slash of claws or mass of shouki. His inaction meant he was playing with her, and she was so very, very sick of being played with.

The darkness was laughing at her, dancing with her, and waiting to pounce, to tear her to pieces. He wanted her to scream.

No, she was so very, very tired and her head buzzed with numbness. She didn't even have time to mourn. She couldn't find any hope at all. It really wasn't worth it, her being here. Maybe her okaasan had been right: it wasn't smart to chase after death. But it wasn't supposed to end up this way. It did, and she didn't want to be anywhere but home...at a time when she didn't know about the magical reaches that lurked in the well. She wished she had had time before she was thrown into jigoku.

"Ana ga attara hairitai..." Kagome hissed, in utter seriousness, at the shadows.

"Careful what you wish for, girl. That can be arranged..." His voice loomed behind her.

She turned, her hands held up in front of her, but again nothing was there. Now the echoes of his voice slid in layers everywhere, seeming a part of everything around her. Again, it was much too vast in its murmuring, and she was drowning. How did she ever imagine that she would defeat him, a product of intensity?

Yes, he was intense, too intense to be meant to be. Sesshomaru, the cold, icy dealer of death, had nothing compared to Naraku's presence. Sesshomaru was meant to be and part of some sort of...balance, cycle, something. But Naraku's creation even broke the rules of that something. She had always had him in low doses. She was always with Inuyasha, always indirectly affected by him. Now she was directly intertwined with him in this room.

Kagome didn't know how to react.

She knew, even if she didn't want to understand a thing about Naraku, that she was his last...hold on his former existence before Kikyo did the unthinkable. He wanted a reaction, a shudder, a whimper, or a curse. But if she showed weakness, he might not stop tormenting her slowly. That was a definite possibility. On the other hand, if she didn't react, he might be spurred onwards towards high machinations. She didn't know what to do for it was quite literally a no-win situation...and she suddenly realized, despite her early yearnings, that she didn't want to...die. It hit her like the force of a small typhoon, weaving its way deep within her heart and making her breaths hitch. She had wanted to before but that time had pasted her by and now that possible death was breathing down her neck, she wanted to live.

"It seems that your Inuyasha is dead...for the sake of another already in the grave. Pity..." Then he was there, and she could see him.

He was sitting down by the window in a bored position as if she wasn't worth the effort of his actually standing. She almost missed him again in the shadows, but it was his eyes that caught her attention and alerted her of his location. His eyes burned a cool crimson, very metallic thus similar to Inuyasha's eyes yet worlds apart. Worlds apart...liquid, biting, acidic metal, hinting at things she was not allowed to know. She felt like he could see inside of her, and despite herself, she stepped back, knocked back from his sudden appearance. He was in control. The once barren room seemed quite full now.

She struggled for a moment then her fear evaporated, perhaps burned away by his gaze. Because now that she could see and it wasn't just the idea of him but actually him, she thought that he looked both cold like the moon yet warmed by pure magic...and that reminded her of Kikyo.

"So it seems," she muttered but made sure he could hear perfectly, words shaping beautifully clear.

She needed something to shoot him with.

"It also seems that you've lost your chance to become anything but a hanyou. Pity..."

Kagome drawled then came back to herself. She had thought those words but hadn't meant to actually say them out loud. Big difference... she gaped in shock, hoping she hadn't actually...

It appeared she had because he grew remarkably still, staring at her with a cold emptiness, and she had the distinct impression he was about to move very fast...to strike her of course.

Kagome merely stood there, ready once more.

The place had never been defilement by the sounds of human breathing in centuries, much before the miko Kikyo had even been born as a mortal. Yet she knew of it because the kaiju in her wake knew of it; it had been there in the earliest of times that history would call the Jomon Period. Thus the existence of such a place was mystifying, but Kikyo listened to its murmurings and followed its guidance past the marshes and fields down into the depths of the earth from which she was made.

What could have formed such a place full of 'roped' pottery? For a moment, she stopped to gaze at the meandering ropes, seeing the message of fate wrapped up in-between, and a frown weighed on her features.

It was endlessly ancient, a shrine to a different time from Sengoku Jidai, and she felt the importance of her presence there, crossing time much like her reincarnation. She smiled in the veil of time, flowing down the crumbling steps quite easily and spotting the bronze mirrors to the left. Those mirrors were brought down later from the creation of this place but suited her purpose well.

Yes, Kikyo and the kaiju had gained the idea from the demon Naraku. A mirror that captures souls...what a novelty...this mirror would do far better for her...the mirror of the two gods.

The room seemed to shrink away from her and the oni that hung from her, but she reached her goal and grasping the handle with unseen gentleness, removed the mirror with the ropes covering the back from the wall that promptly crumbled.

She saw herself through the murk and glimpsed the oni's shadow. She smiled at her image nonetheless. She was still beautiful; she had never had the opportunity to enjoy her beauty in life. In life, she had never once seen herself as a beauty, just as a destroyer and a protector. She was not allowed to enjoy but now, in death, she was free. Inuyasha was free. He was no longer burdened by painful emotions as she once was; now he was free.

The emotionless warrior stood in the mirror behind her, watching without seeing. Something was in his hand...

"Inuyasha?"

The miko turned suspiciously to study the hanyou. Clenched in his hand was an emerald green cloth that she recognized instantly.

She dropped the mirror that miraculously didn't shatter from the force. The figure didn't notice; he only stared in emptiness, life's colors gone from his eyes and face utterly blank. Kikyo tapped her bow sharply against the stones and Inuyasha stirred.

She walked slowly up to him, the oni dancing in glee. Kikyo slapped him hard and torn the cloth from his grip. His face now colored from the blow, he still didn't react for his only purpose was to please her. The cloth had blown across the field as they had been leaving and snagged on his arm. Kikyo had not seen this.

She burned the cloth instantly and glared to see his reaction at the burning smell. He gave nothing. She grimaced; the process had been sloppy and too much of Inuyasha had been lost. But she knew how to bring him back to her. There was still some glimmer in his eyes that had made her want him in her life and throughout her silence of centuries. She would bring warmth to him again.

She sighed at the task before her. Kikyo stroked Inuyasha face lovingly, softening at the feel of his skin against hers. They were both cold.

"You will see, my love. I will bring you everything. But first, we have to take care of them. We have to take care of them before we continue. It is what is right...and it is demanded." The tumunci flickered behind her, caressing her arms. "My reincarnation has something I want...something I need. Naraku must be disposed of...and this is our fate, Inuyasha. This is the fate of these lands." Her eyes faded as she listened to that undercurrent voice.

The three left with the mirror in tow, wandering to the nearest lord's castle with a dark purpose.

Kagome continued to back away, keeping her eyes glued to his body, waiting for the rustle of cloth and the impact that was sure to follow.

He started to laugh.

She was certifiably surprised.

_What the hell is he laughing at? Nothing about this is funny?!_

Then he moved, like liquid, like time, and grabbed her throat, pushing her up against the wall which shook. Her feet dangled above the floor, and she watched this all in detachment.

_Good, this is fine. I don't care. _

Kagome registered the relatively silken feeling of his hand on her throat, making the cold disappear. He didn't pierce her with his claws yet, so she waited patiently. There, he had moved his thumb to her throat, applying pressure. So he was...

"You never fail to amuse me, girl." He muttered...his voice like ocean, drown-worthy deep as he leaned in to whisper in her ear. "Wasting yourself, dying for a nothing, a ragtag group of fools walking into death. Pointless..."

_I don't care. _

He was very close now, his body up against hers, and she was sure he felt the pounding of her heart. His hair brushed her face lightly, and she closed her eyes, still waiting.

"I would love to put an end to you."

_THEN DO IT! _

"But..." A sharp claw rubbed up against her lifeline in her throat, pounding against his thumb, and she stiffened.

"Circumstances guard your life for now, miko." His voice was apathetic, and she opened her eyes to gaze up at him, amazed out of her senses. He wasn't going to kill her?!

Now he seemed completely foreign to her; his eyes burned through hers as she was trying to see through him. She had never been this close up to him before and her perspective shifted ever so slightly. He was simply looking at her, and she felt quite trapped in a moment of time...but then it was fine.

He was so unlike...Inuyasha. He was subtle...that's all she could think of. Inuyasha were for the day when he was for the night, inky blackness, something that would always be there, fairly eternal...

Kagome felt time completely grind to a stop.

Then he dropped her on the ground and it painfully started again. He moved back to his original position, and she kept her distance, backed-up against the unyielding wall. Kagome rubbed her neck bitterly.

"What circumstances?" she muttered darkly.

He didn't bother to look at her again, but she could feel his annoyance in waves.

"Tell me...what do you remember?"

Translations:

Hai-yes

Okaasan-mother

Koi-Japanese fish

Goshiki-type of koi

Honden- in Shinto shrines, the actual architecture of the building is designed to mimic nature. Shintoism is based on the idea of nature and kami (god/gods) in nature while practicing this religion is based on purification and mediation. Thus, the shrine symbolizes the levels of purification, and the honden is the most inner part of the shrine where only priests can go. Shinto literally means 'the way of kami'.

At least, I hope that's right with my Western mind and such...

Jigoku-hell, hades

Ana ga attara hairitai-I want to crawl in a hole and die O-O

Kaiju-monster

Jomon Peroid/ Jomon jidai- (10,000 BC-300BC) Jomon literally means 'cord-marked' and this age was known for pottery.

Oni-demon, evil spirit

Tumunci (actually an Ainu word)-demon, devil

And I guess that's it...

Again, thank you Aiffe, profiler120, Elementsofmine, lady sakura, Naroki, and BakaBokken.

Oh, and check out profiler120's and Elementsofmine's N/K communities:


	4. The Undertow

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha...sigh...

The Reckoning

Chapter 3: The Undertow

_What do you remember?_

Kagome studied his reflection on the gleaming, rich wood darkly and rubbed her neck with some drama.

She didn't want...to remember. It hurt and in her mind twisted to remember. She was drowning in apathy after having once more been filled with resentment at still breathing while her friends had...she had cheated them. Yet she was paying for her sin. Her position now...she was here, wasn't she? And she felt she was about to pay.

He was waiting on a thin thread, and she felt dangled. Kagome took a moment dressed in silence and drug up the images from the disaster. The floor was cool, and she was thankful for the feeling on her sore legs.

She wondered what the point was of his query was and why he was really keeping her alive. The Jewel had rejected the both of them, so why continue this game? She understood in a vague way. His very creation, his very being was sprung out of desire for the Jewel. Her purpose she was born with, the Jewel encased in her flesh, had tugged her heart and placed her in Sengoku Jidai. She had lost her purpose and so had he. But why fight it? Wouldn't it be better to fade? Would he not allow that?

She felt like beating her fists on the floor and screaming at him. Life seemed like a memory, an aftertaste.

"I remember Kikyo and the Jewel...taking on its own shape. I remembered when I saw it that I had sensed it before," she whispered to his image.

She wasn't going to mention Inuyasha anymore, and if he was smart, he wouldn't either. Despite herself, she was curious...what circumstances could possibly keep him from killing her?

None came to mind and that's what made the entire situation so...heavy like she was in the curtains of a dream. Kagome had felt his potent hatred of her numerous times during their encounters and it always...affected her strangely. For she had never been even remotely disliked and at first, she didn't want such emotions directed towards her.

At first, she was detached, having not been one of his victims. She bit her lip hard, piercing the skin, at the thought because on _that l_evel, she had been one of his first, hadn't she? When she was Kikyo...

Then during _those _intervals of confronting the dark demon, it became all about...becoming intertwined in mutual loathing. It became a thrill, something that pumped in her veins; whether Naraku was aware of it or not, he gave her power. She would face him and only him, and the others, her friends, were lost and behind her.

_Just listening to you...makes me sick!_

He would smirk and she would snarl. It was something of an unspoken, secret symbiotic relationship that only the two of them would possibly understand.

About this time though, it should have ended by her hand...by now...he turned his head slightly towards her.

"You've sensed _this _before, miko? And you did not..."

Surprise...almost non-existent and undetectable but yet he was surprised. She had caught him off guard.

"It's not like...I remembered, I mean," she growled, gritting her teeth in frustration. "When I saw it again, I remembered."

She would have told Inuyasha about the danger if she had remembered and if she hadn't been so stupid! She struggled to hold back a wave of tears because she absolutely couldn't show any weakness now.

"What good would it have done...knowing about what was hidden in the Shikon? I doubt it would have deterred you, Naraku."

She smirked at him, pleased at reminding him of his defeat, and hoped her eyes looked merely mocking instead of in torment.

"Kikyo knew, didn't she, and you did not...then you really are nothing but her shadow."

His...word hit, how could, how could _he _judge her, when he was only a collection of shadows!

She didn't know how she moved but she did in a blank motion, hearing her feet pound, and all she registered was her hands seeking to strike him. And she heard the crack of her fingers as he snatched her hands easily in a vise-like grip. She fell against him hard, holding back at cry of pain. Her feet dug at the floor in protest but failed as he lifted her off the floor mockingly.

"Desperate, aren't we, miko," he hissed. He paused to admire the scene before him. "To prove yourself...you know what you must do now."

Tears forming in her eyes, she looked at the empty ceiling, gasping.

"The Shikon...finish what she couldn't."

Her eyes widened. How she wanted...wait.

"N-n-no! You w-won't have it! D-do you h-hear me! I-It will never belong to y-!"

He set her down suddenly, almost gently, and she wanted to back away even though he still held her wounded fingers fast.

"Then all those who die...their blood will spill on the ground because of you, not me."

She thought quite the opposite when she saw that her hands were bleeding and staining his own. Like Inuyasha's robe disappearing into darkness...along with countless others. The truth! The truth of what he was saying...for once, Naraku was telling the truth. The darkness in the Shikon would never stop, never be satisfied until it covered everything and still...and still she had a duty, a responsible that shackled her.

She moved her thumbs, the only part of her hand that he hadn't gripped, and let them rest on his own hands.

"What can...I do? I don't know what..." she murmured helplessly.

"Don't be pathetic."

He sneered at her. She felt the comparison once more, the scale between her and Kikyo, and she lowered her head wearily. She also felt something else, thick in the air. He wanted her to ask him for his help. She knew by the increasing pressure on her already throbbing hands. As she watched the darkness gathering between her hands and his, she had the weird thought of some sort of dark bond, intertwining her to him. She wanted to rest.

"Yes."

Kagome sighed deeply, the cold in the room draining her, weighing down.

He arched an eyebrow at her in exaggerated disdain, urging her forward. She was falling...somehow in her head, blooming behind her eyes, webs around her heart, her soul turning into lead, couldn't avert her eyes from her own blood, he was...magic, this was magic. At one point, she could have fought it, pierced with her will. But not now...and never again...

"I need your help."

"And in return?"

Placed on a cliff, waiting to fall, with beautiful potential...she tossed it into the abyss and watched it drop, waiting but never hearing the landing. The wind tugged and she followed it because she wanted to see where it would end.

"I..."

She was going to find where it went, burning eternally in her, itching like fiberglas, she was going to find it, had to, and she moved through the deeps that flowed through her hands like silk tingling, obsidian, sand, like time, only to fill the hole she had dug. Yes, it was obsidian, cooling from the chaos, because it cut and bit.

"I will..." Her eyes...he was blurring, everywhere, burning, searing seal onto parchment.

"I will follow you..."

And she found it.

"Higurashi! HIGURASHI!"

She jerked up as a bang shattered to a blinding light. The sun was streaming into her eyes, and she blinked up to see her...math teacher who had dropped the geometry book near her sleeping face.

"Glad you could join us, Higurashi. You have held us up long enough."

The gray-headed, withered man, his mouth tense with anger, motioned wildly to the rest of the class who had their pencils posed above their desk, faces down, hair covering their faces...she couldn't see her friends...who were these people?

Kagome gripped her desk, her hands slick with sweat, trying to breath, and there was Hojo, near the front. Yeah, brown hair...he turned. She almost cried with joy. He was smiling at her! It had been a dream, a horrible dream, Inuyasha was still...

Inu...in...her mind went blank. She searched frantically for a name, a face slipping through her cupped hands like water. A dream...

She couldn't see her teacher's eyes, glasses dancing with the fierce glare of the afternoon sun, and he harshly shoved a paper onto her desk and slapped a wicked-looking pen next to it dramatically. The sound reverberated in the silence, and no one moved.

In huge letters on the board were the words proclaiming her doom:

FINAL EXAM

She started to sweat for real, mind reeling. Had she studied, what were the chapters over...

Kagome glanced at the packet, scanning quickly, and her stomach churned. Geometry, sharp triangles, the entire test was over geometry.

She gaped in horror at the man before her, but he turned in back on her, gray-moth eaten coat slapping against her desk.

"Begin."

The scribbling of pencils bombarded her hearing. Kagome gazed around in horror, breathes coming short, as she saw the pages turning, their pale hands barely touching the paper, the pages were snowing, blurring...she shook her head and tried to start the first problem. Angles...what was the formula?

9, 9 what? 9...I...

Why was she writing letters?! Her hand shook...she tried to write another, 14, N! She needed an eraser! She frantically scrubbed at the ink, but it smeared everywhere. She raised her shaking hand, waving it at the professor's back.

"Yes, Higurashi?" He knew...she was failing!

"Sir, I-I need a pencil."

"This was all that was left for you. You know...some mistakes cannot be erased. Continue, Higurashi, or I'll fail you."

Fighting back tears that only ruined the crumbled paper, dark on the edges, dirty, how had this happened?! She placed the pen to the paper and wrote only to find there was no ink. The marks from the point spelled out...she couldn't stop writing. Kagome squinted at the message etched into her exam. Why arrows are for cowards...She lost control. Kagome shook the pen violently, and no one looked. The scratching continued...always continuing...she would not fail!

Kagome gritted her teeth and slung the pen in the air...something hit her face, on her lips. The pen had exploded. Ink everywhere, on her paper and uniform. So much...it soaked through her socks, and she tasted it. No one looked up, and everything else was clean except her. She sat with her hands up in a gesture of shock.

A ruler hit her desk, jarring her, and she looked up at more red. A red material, a faded robe, with white hair sprinkling down in ivory age...it blazed against the red like a yew tree, branching out eternally. Claws cracked the wood of the ruler and it splintered.

"What could you have done differently, Higurashi? So many things...yet you failed! You are nothing like her!"

No...she shot out of her desk, slipping onto the floor.

_I WON'T LOOK! YOU CAN'T MAKE ME! _

The scribbling continued.

Kagome shot towards the door, grasping the handle, and darted through. The hallways were empty, filled with her haggard breathing. She leaned against the wall and used it as support. She had to get out of there. Kagome stopped for a moment, determined to look behind her...to see if he had followed. Whiteness except for her handprints, a brush on a canvas beginning a new kanji...the halls were empty. The sun warmed her face, and she was thankful for some warmth. She turned to look outside but saw...her reflection in the glass. Unforgiving and cold, skin like papyrus...no...it was contorting, snarling at her. She froze.

"Get out..." The woman hissed, her eyes shrouded and face sprinkled with bits of darkness...like hers was.

"THAT'S MY FACE! WHO ARE YOU?! GET OUT!"

A red arrow broke through the glass and it danced into pieces, danced into obsidian. She felt the shaft pierce her even as she grabbed for it, feeling the feathers slip through her fingers.

Her fingers...someone's fingers were brushing against her hand. Kagome jerked her hand back as if she was bitten and hit wildly towards the source of the touch. She was pushed back and her eyes flew open...to meet crimson. Kagome screamed and thrashed towards freedom but she was held down.

"I won't have you harming yourself, fool, before you can be of any service to me."

Kagome sank backwards onto the futon, eying the dark hair that floated about her. His face was inches way, smirking of course. His eyes were like the ink in the dream...and she shivered, trying to move away, but he kept her pinned down. Kagome distantly realized she was still in her school uniform that was dirty...the fabric of his clothes brushed against her legs, tickling her skin. She glared up at the demon whose hands held her arms down like they were fused to the floor. His thumb was tracing something into her skin, leaving a sensation...Kagome held her composure.

"You can get off me now. I'm awake."

Kagome was amazed at how even her voice was with him this close to her. He tilted his head, eyes studying her with a slight...deviation to his expression. He pretended not to hear her, his smirk growing exponentially. Her heart stopped as he leaned closer to her and smiled into her neck.

"GET OFF ME!" She couldn't hide her hysteria.

He released her.

And she backed away from him. She was going to start crying and never stop.

"Why...why did..." she stuttered to a halt. He rose silently, turning his back on her.

"How...How could you! You are the lowest thing that ever...how could you send me that horrible-!" she rasped out, still feeling like the shaft was embedded in her shoulder. She didn't expect him to stop.

Naraku turned with annoyance written every detail of his face.

"I merely mended your hands while you slept, miko. You're no use to me injured...I believe the only weapon _you _can wield is a bow." His tone was degrading, and she saw that etching once more.

"You...made me see him again...you won't stop..."

Kagome hated that she felt streams running down her face but she couldn't help it. She shook and covered her face

"Are you breaking apart already?"

He was close once more, trying to remove her hands, and he succeeded. He was studying her again, and Kagome felt...something different. This was something different now yet she couldn't know...she looked away.

"You sent me that nightmare knowing what it would do..." she mumbled, in confusion at his behavior.

"I did no such thing. Your own weak, human soul devoured your dreams."

He cast her hands away in disgust and disappeared into the corridor.

Kagome faltered; he had seemed...sincere.

-----------

A small, white slip of paper floated in the basin, fighting not to sink, and Kikyo plucked it from ruin, just in time. She had saved a bit of the material that had clung to Inuyasha for this purpose. The green threads were nearly undone.

The miko placed her hand over the material, almost touching the rippling liquid that was still boiling in chaos.

"It is time that I regain what you have taken...thief, nothing but a mere reflection. In time...I shall unravel you, _Kagome._"

Kikyo placed the doll in Inuyasha's lifeless hand, staring at him challengingly. He clasped it harshly, and she tore it away from it before it was crushed.

She shook her head in weariness and held his hand gently, leading him along the path...where a voice echoed throughout the darkness.

---------

Kagome jumped as something was thrown at her feet. She shrank in horror as she saw it was a bow, woven in a familiar red and fine etching. It was one of Kikyo's...

"I won't touch anything that belonged to her," she stated coldly.

"Yes, you will."

She glared up at him and couldn't see his face in the shadows but she could very well imagine...his eyes. She drove that thought away and crossed her arms, kicking the bow with her foot harshly. It clattered across to where he was standing.

"No, I won't."

Kagome grimaced at the childishness of the entire situation but touching a bow after she was just shot with one of the same make (no matter if it was a dream or not)...it wasn't going to happen. Then she felt her arm move...without her willing it to. She struggled frantically but something was pushing her up, shaping her body, and she was _walking_ towards the repulsed weapon. Her back was forced down and her hand reached out to grab the bow, fingertips brushing against the design.

She was...drowning, lulled by a voice from that deep well inside, but when she felt that design...

Kagome jerked back and feeling a jolt of pain, fell to her knees.

"Grasp the bow now..."

Naraku's voice was menacing, laced with poison and threats. She shook her head, unable to speak.

He gripped the bow and thrust it into her hand, forcing her trembling fingers to grasp the weapon she so despised. Naraku gripped her chin to force her to look at him...and faltered at the emptiness...that her eyes held.

He allowed the bow to fall and tensed in anger. The girl had rebuffed him...even after he had bound her with magic. Kagome awaited his rage but it never came.

He disappeared once more into the shadows, and when she was sure he was gone, she stomped on the bow, finally cracking it. She left it where it lay in pieces and waited for him to return.

Author's notes:

Sorry for the delay. Thanks for the reviews: profiler120, Heavenly Faye-Faye naroki, sess'sgirl, and Yuki Haitani who all have absolutely wonderful stories!! I highly suggest checking out their work.


	5. Defiance

Chapter 4

Defiance

Disclaimer: I don't own Inu-Yasha.

Author's notes: I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. I tried to make it longer than the ones before it.

---

Something was coming this way.

The lots had fallen badly, and he felt something coming this way much like some can feel a storm approaching in their bones. The crops had produced nothing for weeks and his people were starving. All the prayers and offerings were in vain and the envoys for assistance from neighboring villages were fruitless.

The young lord, Nara Shimaru, had never believed in things beyond until the last seven months of his life...when she had saved him. Now it was the month of the Gods.

It was funny he remembered her now in the midst of his prayers in front of the solemn Buddha in a room of red, rich wood and burning flames like a pyre.

He breathed in the incense and prayed reverently, clasping his hands. The river had run low, too low. He frowned darkly, trying to fight superstition. Time was scarce. It was as if life was fleeing.

He was prepared to travel to the Asuka area to observe the Sakafune Ishi and its message

Then he would go to the island to get the scrolls. It was a necessity.

---

All the talk...the murmuring of rumors...of impossible things...

Souls of women disappearing into the night, abducted, and leaving an empty shell...marks on the trees, some which he had witnessed himself. He wished

His last envoy had turned around, spooked like frightened children, and he had journeyed in the rain to note this strange phenomena. His mount nearly threw him off when he had reached his destination. But he was no frightened child...

Patting the horse chidingly on the nose, he unsheathed his katana and prepared to enter the dark woods but was stopped by a hand intertwined in his armor. Nara turned suddenly with his sword raised. It was a small child with large, dark eyes holding a sakura blossom. Her eyes were solemn and her mouth down-turned with tendrils of dark hair stron down her face like a river. He was struck with her pallor and took an uncomfortable step back. Suddenly, his arm was yanked back by his mount as the horse tried to rear up. It was a moment of chaos but the child remained still in her crimson, saturated, and tattered kimono with her bare and cut feet drifting sharply into sight.

He almost didn't want to gaze upon her she was so...like a fleeting bird, like something wearing a mask. Her eyes were too dark, and he felt the large pools upon him, felt like drowning. And it wasn't the season for sakura blossoms...

He caught his breath and regained himself. The rain hissed down around them.

"Foolish child, why are you out in the rain? And bare-footed of all things? Where are your parents?" he scolded.

"Himitsu..."she muttered in a grave voice.

He stared at her, not hiding his shock. He might have thought she was being mischievous if it wasn't for her down-turned expression.

"You will answer me, girl. Don't you know whom who are addressing?"

She looked past him, hands tearing at sakura blossom like moths, and said, "Nara Shimaru..." in the emptiest yet most...dancing version of his name he had yet heard, the way the words seemed to declare misfortune.

It jarred him like a spear, and he staggered back, losing his grip on the reins. The horse fled into the mists, and he lay on his back, struggling to get up but his armor weighed him down.

Then he was in the woods, surrounded by the trees, the grass brushing his knees, and he was without his armor. In fact, he felt like he had been freed, torn from himself yet he was...in the woods. He glanced upwards through the gaps in the trees, the branches looming out like pleading hands, and he spun around, but the trees were much too close together. A glimpse of red in between the darkness of the trees...

He was appalled! That little girl, that little, conniving whelp had done something to him. Burned on the trees...himitsu...burning into him...that word carried on the wind, swept around him, blinding him.

The grass grew too long, and soon he was nothing. Night came and dew fell upon him, and he lay on his back, arms spread out. He felt like a boy again. The red moon was slashed and shone upon the marks on the trees. It was a secret, and he was waiting for her. A sakura blossom fell on his forehead. He didn't move, waiting, wondering...where was she? In his schooling, he was taught of the Void, where there was nothingness, so one must know many things to distinguish between nothingness, for principle had existence, skill had existence, and the spirit had nothingness. He believed, that truly, he was in nothingness.

Then she was above him, filling his sight, and he stifled a scream. Her eyes were much too large. She leaned close to his face, and she became a shadow. He only glimpsed the movement of her lips and the whisper of her false breath upon his face.

Eyes were pools...the white of her eyes like the purest paper...he was reminded strongly of a spider.

"She comes here...mark her. When the moon wanes seven times, she will come again with the Shikon no Tama. Mark her and do what she asks of you, Shimaru Nara..."

"My lord!" He was being shaken, and he felt burdened once more. Hands were lifting him off the wet earth, and Nara Shimaru still felt like a child.

The fever raged on for weeks, and he could not sleep.

He laid on the futon, still feeling the wisps of her hair. The lions carved by the door of the room haunted him. Each night they stalk closer, looming over him and baring their fangs still stained with blood yet each morning they would return to their posts. The phoenix emblems in the wood burned. Their eyes were pools...children's laughter were needles in his spine. Madness kept his eyes open.

Each night he aged. His dark hair turned gray from powdered time, and he could not eat.

One day, the day of her coming, a child of his servant peeked into the room. In his mind, he was not alert, and he was startled as the child peered at him, shyly offering flowers.

His yells had brought the whole castle.

"Put the child to death! She has disturbed me!"

The girl hid behind her mother as the servant hastened to explain, holding up her weathered hands in supplication.

"My lord, she is but a child. She wandered away but it will never happen again! P-please she is my only daughter."

The woman feel before him wailing with the waif hiding behind her, clutching her plain kimono, and the guards at the post shifted in discomfort. Nara eyed them angrily, gaze fermenting into poison.

"WELL?! FINISH HER!" He pointed a shaky, crooked finger at the brown-eyed fiend. The men didn't move.

"I'll do it myself," he hissed and grasped his dagger tightly, staggering forward. He would punish them later, for such foolishness over a creature of no importance.

"There is no need for such a senseless act, my lord. The child has done nothing wrong."

Shimaru froze at that voice...whispering of the Shikon no Tama. He turned and the whispering, frightened men parted to reveal a pale woman adorned in miko clothing bearing an elegant, arched bow. Red...she shone into his gaze.

He pointed his dagger at her, enraged at being made the fool.

"How dare you speak to me in such a manner! You dare...GET OUT OF MY SIGHT, OR I'LL CUT YOUR WORTHLESS LIFE SHORT!!"

The moment of silence gave birth to something dark, and she smiled with her eyes empty and buried.

"Such threats do not apply to myself, my lord...I am here to purge you of the demon you bear," she murmured and soon flowed completely into his view.

Something inside of him recoiled, but he remained frozen. Her movements were much too flowing, like a dream, like something not of this world. Yet...she was very beautiful, like a kanji draw on rice paper. Yet his vision was blurred because he was deep within, under water, watching the ripples...

Soon the miko had reached him without his true awareness.

The thing that lurked inside him, coiled up, stared out at her to with predatory gluttony, waiting. Then, with her long fingers, she touched his forehead in the exact place where the sakura blossom once fell.

He screamed as something jolted through his nerves and attacked the curled-up thing viciously.

Yet...and yet he was slowly released from his underwater prison and glimpsed the fleeing thing; he knew it had left of its own will and not from any impetus from the woman. It had come to observe her.

He fell to his knees, shaking and cold, and she kneeled beside him with her hand on his shoulder and order the men to gather material for their lord. She stayed by his side the whole night and kept the lions away.

When Nara Shimaru awoke, the first object he saw was her, with her bow in her lap. He reached out timidly to touch the string of the weapon. She observed him indifferently.

"What beautiful silk...I admire your weapon, priestess. With such craftsmanship, this weapon tells of your virtue."

"Thank you. I have had it...all my life."

The next words were the very hardest to drag up because of his pride and because it was a woman who had saved him.

"I owe you my life, priestess, for you saved my very soul. I am ashamed...I can not give you a proper reward...nothing in this world could repay you for your kindness."

"You flatter me. It was not kindness but an obligation," the woman responded bluntly.

"Y-Yes, of course...I understand."

Never in his life had he been so caught off guard. Studying the woman, he saw she seemed above him, too pure and ethereal, too aloof, and he grew annoyed and suspicious.

"If you don't mind my asking, priestess, how did you know of my burden? I instructed my people to not let word of my illness slip past these walls, for I have many enemies who would have attacked us," he declared in a tone to match her own bluntness.

She looked askance at him but beyond that, had no reaction and he fell short of his goal.

"I was merely passing by, my lord, in a hurry to find shelter before the sun set, for the night births many evils...I believed that I sensed something I was looking for, but I was mistaken. There was a...strange energy hovering over your castle. When I entered the gate, which was not protected, I heard your shouts and the madness behind them. I realized the shouki I sensed must have sprung from you, my lord...so, to answer your question, no, I had not heard a whisper of your burden...and I must be on my way."

He was aghast as the miko stood to go.

"Wait, I apologize for my rudeness. Surely, you will stay the night. It is much too cold for you to resume your journey."

"The cold does not bother me, my lord. I have placed seals around the room in case the spirit returns."

She stood by the entryway, moving aside the screen. He grimaced as he heard the wind rattling the tiles outside.

"Priestess, I demand you stay for the night."

"I can not. I have much to accomplish before I can rest."

She disappeared fully through the screen, almost like she had never been there at all, and he stumbled after her. Sliding the door open, he hissed at the biting cold and saw her ghostly red in the distance and her dark hair flickering in the slivers of light.

"AT LEAST TELL ME YOUR NAME, PRIESTESS! I MUST KNOW WHO I AM INDEBTED TO!" he called out against the wind.

"Kikyo."

Then she was gone, and he was left to wonder how he had heard her soft voice over the roars of nature.

"Kikyo...I shall see you again."

And Nara Shimaru did see his savior again...and she asked him to repay his debt.

---

Kagome had grown stiff from her long-held position and stretched a little bit before deciding to move. She grimaced. It had grown too quiet here and the air was too heavy, like being in mire. Where did her tormentor go to anyway?

Her body felt like it had been pulled by a thousand strings, and she heel-toed it to the doorway, carefully stepping around the ruins of the former weapon that perhaps she, in one shaded memory, used herself.

Holding her breath, Kagome slid the door open painfully slow, expecting something to dart out of the darkness at her for her earlier defiance. She peeked through the opening. Nothing was there, and she hissed as the floor, alive in dark tones, felt like ice. She couldn't see her hand in front of her face except for the few glimmers of light seeping through the rotting wood, giving off a ruddy glow.

She grew darkly somber as she noticed faint, gilded designs, painted in gold and a mirage of different colors, now seeming like a rainbow in an oil spill. Once there were people here...

She tiptoed down the hall, occasionally spotting suspicious-looking marks near the corners, engrained in the wood. Blinking and brushing back her hair, she squinted closer...was that...blood? THAT IS SO GROSS!

Kagome cupped her mouth in disgust and ran down the hall, occasionally jumping over the places where death once laid. Panicking and severely, abet quite suddenly claustrophobic, she searched desperately for a way out and slammed into a place where a raw sun peered at her through the murk. A vacant courtyard greeted her.

Kagome quickly stepped out bare-footed onto the ground and collapsed, breathing deeply and praying the ground wouldn't turn into quicksand. The former grandeur of the castle was not lost on her though the towers seemed like slumbering giants.

Overall, she was sure it had been quite a beautiful and majestic castle. It reminded her of a labyrinth, and judging by the scattered, faded tiles, it had once been white. And now it was vacant, and it seemed like she was alone. Eying each entryway suspiciously, she expected a dramatic appearance. Then she grew peaceful as what felt like hours passed. She took the time to study her sullied uniform without much thought and laid her head on her knees. Sighing, Kagome shut her eyes.

Then, quite suddenly, she was in a windstorm of tile, sand, and shouki that gripped her throat in a strangle-hold. Blinded, she held up her arms in defense as she was lifted off her feet entirely when the ground dissolved, debris biting sharp, stinging, and cutting off her breath. She clenched her teeth in the vain effort to keep the noxious material out of her mouth. Flipping weightless through the air, she hit the ground hard near the steps, just barely missing the sharp edge.

Something big and yellow crashed on the said steps, making her shriek. It took a little bit to process that the deadly thing was her bag. She sat up very slowly. Feeling pinpricks across her skin, she was vaguely horrified when she saw that he was adorned in his unnerving pelt. It just made the whole situation choke the spirit out of her as he looked completely soulless. She shivered.

As he gestured impatiently to the bag, she jumped a little at the motion then gazed nonplussed at the item.

"No word of thanks, miko? Such manners...that hanyou must have rubbed off on you," he sneered from underneath the lifeless face, and she grew cold.

Then Kagome noticed she was bleeding a little from the tile against her skin.

"Yeah, thank you very much for throwing me around the whole castle, I've always wanted to be cut to bits and slammed on the ground... I appreciate it. Such a manly thing to do..." she snarled and opened her bag...to find a besmirched knife. She fell backwards.

"W-W-WHAT?!" Kagome stammered out.

"Oh, some common thieves found your bag before I did. It was very amusing..."

She sincerely felt extreme pity for the poor souls who had had the misfortune to come upon her things.

"I'm going to be sick, just..." she growled to no one.

"Miko..."

Something taunting was in his voice, and turning to look at him, she saw that, in his hands, he held her bow, her own bow.

"Where did you find it?" she murmured. She knew it hadn't been with her bag, and she didn't bring it with her to the fight.

He was silent, and she felt pulled towards him, walking jerkily. Soon she walked of her own will, feeling indifferent to everything but her bow. It was from when she was stronger and when she was with her friends. She touched the weapon lightly and reverently.

"Where did you find it?" she asked again in true curiosity.

"The monk," he answered in an offhand voice, pulling her along.

"B-by his..." she removed her hand quickly at this news, seeing a horrible picture in her head. She needed...to bury them somehow, put them to rest. But he wouldn't...she needed...

She saw a glimmer of red behind his mask.

"No, miko. It was not by his body at all...in fact, there is no trace of his remains."

She lost her voice, and she thought he enjoyed watching her emotions.

"He brought it along with him before, with the foolish idea it would make a difference...I knew it would be there."

"B-but what about...why, WHO WOULD..."

"Girl, do you actually think, or did the hanyou give you that trait as well? It is most obvious that the Shikon devoured their bodies while it found this weak wood not to its liking."

He dropped the bow harshly into her hands, and she could not hold on to it. It slipped out of her grasp. Suddenly he did lash out, pushing her down, and Kagome dove to save the bow before he crushed it.

Shaking, she glared at his face that was leering at her.

"I've wasted enough time dealing with your frailties, _miko_," he drawled. "We will be leaving soon, and for the sake of your sanity, you will be ready. Otherwise, I will test the limits of your pain threshold."

She grasped her bow in longing, wishing that she could strike the demon, the hanyou, down. Kagome made a silent vow that she would not allow Naraku to use the Shikon no Tama. Instead she would wait...and she knew he knew her thoughts. He chuckled and grasping a handful of her hair, pulled her face up to look at him.

She decided to break the silence first.

"The Shikon is completely contaminated now...I don't know if I can find it as quickly as you wish. It's shielding itself from me, I felt that when I stepped out here even with your barrier. I have to wonder what you have in mind. Perhaps only you can find it now."

It was a possibility and made sense to her. Something wicked could sense another wicked thing. Because, in the past, even if the Shikon shards were miles away, she could fell the tug deep inside her. Now there was nothing at all.

A strange look rose to his face. Kagome was taken back because she was used to the only expression he ever wore, which was arrogance immersed in arrogance.

"It's hiding itself very well. That's why I must obtain something first..."

He loosened his hold. Looking after him, Kagome felt a very un-numbed fear. It was sharply circulating around the Shikon...for what if it found them first.

---

The light flickered behind his eye lids, and he sought peace, waiting for an answer. None came.

"Lord Nara..."

His meditation was broken, and he narrowly avoided cursing. Gripping the mat tight in his anger, he glared towards the doors.

"Yes? I was not to be disturbed..." he said in a low voice that, to those who knew him well, meant he was very angry.

"Forgive me, my lord. But it is a miko...and her companion. She speaks of having a tie with you."

His mouth went dry as memories of that unforgiving month arose in his mind.

"What is her name?"

"Kikyo."

He stood quickly, almost tipping over the small candles to his left.

"B-bring her in."

Nerves cracking, he straightened his garments hastily as the door slid open. In the gloom of dusk, he could just make out her limber figure. This time she didn't seem as unreal because the wind did not touch this northern area of the castle...still the hairs on his arm stood up.

"Do you not remember me, Lord Nara?'

It would have been a playful question had her voice not resembled a void. Folding his hands behind his back to keep them from shaking as something dark and instinctual filled his mind, he managed to regain his voice.

"Of course...Kikyo. Please come in, there is much to discuss."

"Indeed there is."

The flames flickered as she entered the room and suddenly it felt like there were too many people in the hollow place...more like someone who shouldn't be there. Then Shimaru spotted her white-haired companion behind her who was...

"Demon..." he unsheathed his sword. "Priestess, what is the meaning of-!"

"Calm yourself. He is of a pure nature. He will not sully this place."

Sitting elegantly on the mat opposite him, she motioned for him to do the same.

"Please, my lord, time is short."

Keeping his grip on his weapon, he lowered himself down on the mat, ready to spring up in case the demon attacked him. The light changed as he kneeled down, and that's when he noticed it. The lack of movement in the Halfling's eyes...the flames caused no movement, merely bouncing off the animal's eyes back at him. Something was not right...

"Although I question your choice for a traveling mate, my lady, I have to ask...is he well?"

"He is fine," she bit out sharply, voice shaking with unused emotion. He hurried to rectify the situation.

"I'm sorry. I meant nothing by it. What brings you here? I trust you had much luck on your journey." Shimaru congratulated himself on the tactful change of subject.

She paused.

"Yes, much luck...but there is still much to be done, my lord, and I have come to ask for your assistance. You remember you oath to me."

"Yes, priestess, and I stand by it whole-heartedly. What must be done? For the season has rotted early and nothing grows in my lands nor anywhere...souls are being plundered from young women, and I have heard talk. Rumors about a demon corrupting the Shikon no Tama...my monks confirmed this by looking into the lots and-"

"Oh, yes, it is Naraku you are referring to. But he is no longer a concern...it is another."

"Who, priestess?"

"I regret to say it is a former miko, a young girl with deceptive powers, who now threats the state of things. She hides her powers like a snake, and I do not know how I will fare against her in battle. That is why I must ask this of you, Nara Shimaru, of the Nara line. I have heard of your ancestors' skill in magic and prayer. I have heard of the Nara scrolls, my lord, and I beg you, lead me to them."

"Priestess..." A huge sorrow welded up inside of him because the first thing she asked he could not give her. "I can not."

Shimaru was jolted as the gentle woman focused a predatory gaze on his being.

"You can not or you will not?"

"Both, and I do this not to slight you. If you know of the legends, then you know of the dark use of the scrolls that eclipsed them forever. The only time they were used again was by a great miko to seal many demons that plagued the land. She would have managed to purify the horde if it wasn't for the corruption in the words from that past mistake. Some say that the words contain a demon from the beginning of time sealed within them, in the very ink, and it is to the greatest shame of my family that the great miko perished in her pursuits. I heard tale that...it was this use of those words that helped create the Shikon no Tama. Such a thing...and the Nara family sealed up the scrolls, and I am bound never to reveal their location."

"You were going to use them, my lord, you were going to use the words..."she whispered, closing her eyes in mockery.

How had she known? Something wasn't...he stood.

"Miko...what is your true business here? I demand that you tell me at once!"

She opened her eyes and he saw...that girl, that fiend from the forest. He tried to scream out, but she blocked his voice with a wave of her hand. A strange smile was shifting over her once-beautiful features, like a whisper from the wisp of that demon.

"You can see, Nara Shimaru, that I am different now...she is my child now, not his. She chose me, this child of the Shikon no Tama."

Darkness started to gather towards the miko, and his heart sped up, propelled by another force in the room with them. It was suffocating him, and he fell back towards to the statue for refuge.

"W-what have you done to yourself, priestess?"

"Done to myself? Can't you see that this is my destiny? I was marked from the beginning, Lord Nara. I was born the exact month, day, and hour that the great miko, Midoriko, was born in the past. I was picked to guard the Shikon no Tama, and I was cursed as well...to fall in love and die an unnatural death. In my life, I was misguided, not seeing the beauty within the extremes. Now I see the truth and get to live again while that girl can harbor this demon."

The stands of death were completely filled and intertwined around the miko as the hanyou remained indifferent. They reached towards him, and he dove towards the sacred seals at the foot of the statue. Trembling, he held them out in front of him.

"Nara Shimaru...I think it is time for you to meet my other companions."

Figures emerged from the shouki. One of a young girl and one of a man...

"What magic is this?" he whispered.

"It is only their souls, my lord, and you will join them."

---

"No way! I'm not coming near those things!!"

This time she was going to be sick, her insides were churning. Because, right in front of her with skin hanging off the yellow bones, were the remains of horses, skeleton horses, and they were definitely demonic horses...They were chained to a dark wooden carriage with heavily chiseled letters foreign to her in the sides. The most eye-catching detail of this decayed picture was the cage in the back, besmirched and rusted, with a chained mask and muzzle hanging down from the top.

"You're going to have to go on without me," Kagome stated firmly, crossing her arms.

Still covered up in fur, she couldn't see his expression, but she could tell he was ignoring her, conjuring a black flame to hover near the carriage. Yeah, that topped it.

"So good luck and everything."

Fiddling with the straps of her book bag nervously, she turned around with determination.

Only to be pulled backwards by invisible hands...

"You really are slow, girl. It is starting to bore me. And here I thought the hanyou was the stupid one..."

Tightening her fists in anger, she opened her mouth to tell him off but choked it down as one of the dead steeds turned its head in her direction, a corroded eye looking down at her. She settled for a whisper.

"Look...just stop mentioning him okay. He's not involved in this anymore. Inuyasha's dead, can't you be satisfied with that?"

"He didn't die by my hand..." he hissed and threw her into the carriage.

Before she could gather herself and leap off, he had jumped on and the horses had started to run...too fast. She was pushed back against the cage and could only watch in dismay as they burst through the courtyard and bolted towards the stone wall of the castle.

"N-NARAKU!! WE'RE GOING TO-!"

She shrieked and shut her eyes tight as the horses made contact with the stone...and went right through. She opened her eyes just in time to go right through herself...instead of being crushed, she was in one piece, just left with the sensation of one who has been doused in cold water.

Climbing painfully back onto the seat, she glared at him.

"You could have warned me, you know..."

Kagome caught a glimpse of his smile underneath the mask and sighed. This wasn't going to get any easier. For as long as she was with him, he would continue to torment her.

"Where are we going anyway?"

"You'll see..."

"Does this carriage have your barrier around it too? Can other demons sense us?"

He pointed towards the flames along side them...and she had to admit that those flames were rather beautiful in a lotus-like fashion.

"Oh...well, what are we looking for—."

"Are you ever silent, girl?"

Biting her lip in restraint, she folded her arms and leaned back against the seat, looking at anything else but him. It made her dizzy to do so because the horses were practically flying now, barely touching the ground. The only thing she could tell is that it was growing dark as she watched the silhouettes of the trees grow. The chain banged noisily against the bars of the cage.

"So...your hatred won't let him go?" she murmured, more to herself than him because she expected that he wouldn't answer. But the idea was interesting.

"I have no attachment to anyone, miko," he responded sharply.

"Oh, but you do. You're attached to yourself...and the Shikon no Tama."

She didn't turn to face him while saying this, feeling joy that she had gotten to him...somewhat.

"Bold, eh, girl...surprising when you are just an accessory. Tell me, miko, where have all your self-righteous sacrifices gotten you? All of your pointless emotions that you believed would bring you admiration...your companions abandoned you. Who did the hanyou chose in the end? You were always replaceable, the distraction from their collective grief, you were the faux sibling, the mother, and the sought love, all roles that I myself created for you... and even when you remained living, you were tossed aside, an effigy of another, a puppet with no substance. The truth is that they resented you and what you were, a blind, foolish, little girl who knew nothing of the world."

Kagome gripped the sides of the carriage hard, focusing her rage into her hands, and was determined to show no other reaction to this attack at all. But, in her mind, she wondered if his words were not some skewed form of the truth. After what had happened... Inuyasha and Kikyo appearing together, bound together. Her role with all her friends, true, she filled a need...that he created. This obvious revelation and his mention of a puppet...did he really think that he...had formed her being as he perceived it?!

"What I was...don't you mean what I am?"

Her question came out of nowhere, and she didn't see why it mattered.

"He changed you from what you were, and now you are just a fool."

A dismissal lurked in his voice, and Kagome felt strangely...lost. The bag was jostled against her feet by the vibrations of the travel, and the colors of her old, childhood kimono poked through the slightly open flap.

Her mother...her mother had said that...she was special. Then Kagome knew what he wanted, to see her crack. She wasn't raised to give up so quickly. Her mother would be so disappointed.

"You can only judge by what you know, and you, Naraku, don't know me...and I wasn't such a side-show when I faced you for the first time. Miroku told me of your past, when the Shikon was out of your reach. You were the mimic who fed off people and the emotions you claim to despise. With my friends, I undid your work; you sought to destroy them, but you couldn't. That's because you don't understand anything about true friendship, you couldn't have understood what we were, and you never will, not even if you live forever. And your obsession with the Shikon almost killed you! That's what all your cruelty and lies got you, your own malice almost killed you, idiot! If anything, the Shikon no Tama manipulated you! SO LIKE YOU'RE ONE TO TALK! "

Her triad had started lightly then evolved into a full-blow screaming, complete with shaking fists. Of course she wanted to say more for all the despair in her had gone through the crucible of her temper and burned the tip of her tongue. But she halted as the carriage halted, and he was right in her face, cutting off her voice with his hand around her neck. It seemed very sudden, and her bravery melted at this very inconvenient time.

"When this is over..."

She was petrified. He could hardly utter his threat, so enraged he could hardly speak, and the very worst thing was that she could feel his boiling presence in her. No...yes, it was there, showing its teeth. What had he...she was practically hearing all of him, all the demons that made Naraku yet he was one. It was very...it was something she never imagined, that quite simply he was beyond her. A labyrinth of thoughts spinning one boundless entity...it was very strange...daunting, dreadful, and beautiful all at once. For one moment, she saw him very clearly.

Then he pulled back from her mind for she felt his hasty exit. She wasn't meant to get that close. He maintained his grip on her neck, just loose enough to allow her to breathe but only just. He brought her close to him in one fluid motion.

"I will break you."

She didn't hear him, consumed by what she had been connected to, and then she was tossed into the air. Surprised and still struggling through layers of shock, she lightly braced herself for the expected impact...that never came. Instead she received another shock from an external force. She was suddenly neck deep in a river of blackness. Suddenly she saw rotten trees and marshes and no star in the sky...she saw him all in white upon the monstrous carriage.

Kagome would have screamed at him but the cold pouring through her unprepared body made it difficult. Something grasped her ankle and pulled.

"NARAK-!"

She was pulled under and couldn't breathe. Spots appeared before her eyes. But, before her chest began to hurt, she could breathe although the air was strange. The ebony river twisted above her, a replica of the night sky.

A river was flowing...but gravity...

_Sure, why not? Everything else is upside down so why not?_

As she studied the phenomena with curiosity, something sharp rested at the base of her neck, and her arms were pulled from behind her. Kagome gasped and tried to fight her attacker off but...her arms were being tied by slim shapes of...shadows. Literally, just shadows of arms, emerging from a bigger shadow of a massive demon. The only thing she could see was his eyes, baleful, white slits.

"Who has entered the gate from the Ether?"

A voice came from the shadows, a cold voice full of reflections of bete noir and disease.

"It's a human, a human female!" her captor hissed as a tongue darted out of his sneering, sanguine mouth.

"A human has found the entry...impossible. She must be a demon in disguise. Bring the creature to me."

The demon shadows tightened its grip and drug the kicking girl away from the entry while she looked frantically over her shoulder. Kagome saw that Naraku had not followed behind her and felt unexpectedly betrayed. She should have expected this but for some reason, she hadn't. Even in their opposition, the Shikon had them bonded, for hadn't she just glimpsed him? Now she was alone and defenseless.

Kagome braced herself for the worst and could only hope that even he could have enough decency in his being to not abandon her here.

Author's notes:

Thanks to all those who reviewed!

Naroki-Thank you for your support! You're the one who encouraged me to try an Inu fic. I loved your story 'Love for Evil' and the rest of your work rocks! Keep updating 'It's My Life" I'm looking forward to it.

The Bloody Queen of Hearts-Thanks!! I'm glad you like my fic! I hope I don't disappoint!

Golden-Eyed Girl-Thank you!! You really encouraged me on this fic. I have to say I am eagerly awaiting your update to your fic 'Naraku's Shocking and Final Creation'. So update soon!

Yuki Haitani-Your dramatic fics are beyond good! I love your stuff and I'm glad you like my story.

Aspen Snow-Thank you so much for your kind words! But your writing style is amazing...Crimson Roses and Crystal Rain contained the most beautiful imagery ever. I can honestly say it drew the reader in completely!

Elementsofmine-I'm glad you liked that line! Your Naraku is always so well portrayed so that means a lot!

Raihu-Wow, thank you so much! Actually you are the first one to tell me that, and I truly appreciate it because I never really know about my own stuff. Your fic 'Death Comes Swiftly' was beyond belief and very powerful, one of my favorite stories. I took your advice and tried to focus more on the scenery.

Please review.


	6. The Child of the Shikon no Tama

Author notes: Hey there. Sorry for the delay, my work load has been reallytough lately. But since it slowed down and will probably be slow for a little bit, I finally got out another chap.I think the last chapter was a little vague. So I might re-write it. I hope this chapter clears things up a bit. Also I'm uping the rating a notch.

Disclaim: I own nothing.

Chapter 5

The Child of the Shikon no Tama

_In the dusk the path  
You used to come to me  
Is overgrown and indistinguishable,  
Except for the spider web  
That hang across it  
Like threads of sorrow. _

Izumi Shikibu

Kagome tried to get a glimpse of the demon that held her wrists behind her, crying out from the shooting pain as it towed her along, her feet not even touching the ground. All of her weight was being carried by her arms and she was finding out that Naraku must have not mended her hands very well at all.

"Look, pal," she choked out. "I can walk you know!" She kicked her legs for emphasize.

The grip loosened, and she fell forward onto her hands and knees. Her eyes had begun to focus, dilating till they found some source of light. For there was a light, though of a different sort, undulating from around the small bridged path they had been traveling on. Waves lapped at the side; Kagome thought she could see flecks or strands of something black woven into the white crest. She gulped as she was jerked back by her collar.

Something damp was on her face, something liked sandpaper…she shrieked in revulsion at the sound. A tongue! A fork-tongue was on her face! It seemed to come out of nowhere, it was still to dark to see. Seeing the whites of its eyes, she heard the demon hissed in pleasure.

"You taste like a human to me."

It growled and pulled her closer. Something stuck her, sticking her neck. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw it, nestled in the chest of the larger demon, a black crow.

"I can taste your fear, seeping into your skin. What a harvest your soul shall make."

Warm blood started to glide down her neck. Its mouth was huge, teeth like knives, bigger than her face, glistening in saliva. The heat of its breath, like a furnace, blew her hair back. _Sick! Sick! SICK! _

"Taste this!" Kagome bit out, experiencing a rush of adreliene. Moving quickly now that her arms were free, she grabbed the crow by its feathered neck and squeezed. It squawked brokenly, and its host threw her back with desperate force. A hollow snap followed after her. The corpse crumpled.

She landed awkwardly, the back of her head splashing into the seemingly boundless waters. Kagome clawed at the strange, powdered ground that felt like splinters under her nails to stop her motion. She opened her eyes again sluggishly. Over her, pale, luminous flowers bloomed, petals growing like a video fast-forwarded. The color was hard to see, hard to define, like she couldn't quite grasp it; the fragile things gave off an aura of hues. She would say she felt the petals were light violet and reminded her of morning dew. The 'ceiling', a sloping edge, covered in simple flowers that would not bloom on land and crystals that formed over time. Perhaps she was the only human eyes to see them. It filled her with a stark loneliness.

Kagome sat up, water dripping from her hair. She moved her bangs out her face and in between her fingers were strands of hair that clearly wasn't hers of a lighter tone and courser texture. Looking amazed at the threads woven around her fingers, Kagome, who could sense things that others could not, who was blessed (or cursed) with a different spectrum of sight, could hear some horrible tale in the hair. She turned around slowly.

Under the water, in a faded outline, was a face. A human one, maybe of a girl, of indeterminable age by now. Empty of any distinctions, wiped clean, but a mouth and eyes, both open wide.

She screamed and quickly sprang up from the side, grasping the land tightly. Beyond this sad figure were more, maybe countless more. The water started to ripple, as if her scream had awoken someone. Then, with parasitic greed, the waves rushed onto the small bridge of dank land and also through the cracks in the rocks.

A blind moment of wonder and acceptance as she stood, watching. She wondered if maybe he had designed this end for her, in an empty cavern under ground. His attempts had evolved so. The first time he had tried for her in particular, he had picked Kikyo for the act, and if the plan had succeeded, the irony would have been perfect. The next attempts were more brutal; each one she recalled well, even in her dreams, each with an edge of impersonality and indifference that chilled her, each more dominating. So, this made sense, the idea of being drug under water with nameless faces in a mass grave to be forgotten

…well, it fit, and in a cave of all places, his birth and her death.

But, instead of going for her, the water simply blocked her way back to where she came in, though pulling in the corpse at the same time. She watched as a tuft of feathers drifted out of sight.

Nowhere to go but forward then, alone and without a weapon of any sort. She kept wishing for a flash of a red haori, dashing over the waters, to take her away from this leviathan she had stumbled into. No such luck. The bridge disappeared under the waves that moved without wind or the pull of the moon but a law unto itself. Nowhere to go but into the jaws of the beast.

Kagome began to walk slowly, taking small steps, all the while thinking about what had taken place.

Her hands itched, a burning sensation spreading deep under her skin like pinpricks. She held her arm up in the gloom. Then promptly wished it was pitch black. _Oh Kami…_ Under her skin, she could see her veins outlined in a dark purple, blooming in its own way like a bruise. Like miasma…what was inside her? What had he done?!

Her hands started to shake so badly she could see it at all, just a china blur with purple webs. There was poison in her veins; flowing throughout her system…_I will break you. _

Hah, in his dreams! And she would not be afraid, no, she, Kagome Higurashi, would not show even the smallest bit of fear.

"Lady Kagome!"

A voice boomed in her ear, and she shrieked, jumping a foot in the air. A small dot jumped on her hands that she held in front of her face in horror. She started to swat at it wildly, in a panic.

"It's me! It's me! Myouga, oh, please try to cal-!"

Far too late, she realized she had squashed him under her foot. Her only friend, only hope now in the world and she had squashed him!

"Oh, I am so, sooo sorry!" She knelt down, trying to get him un-stuck from the small crater.

"Are you okay?"

Not that this sort of thing hadn't happened before, but this time she had put a lot of her stress in the stomp. She scooped him up, cupped in one palm and fanning him with the other.

"It…was n-nothing," the old flea demon wheezed. "Didn't even feel it."

"Good to hear." She smiled widely and squeezed him between her fingers. The flea trembled at the frightening smile.

'Now, where were you, this ENTIRE TIME?!" Kagome said through gritted teeth. "HUH? FOUND A GOOD PLACE TO HIDE? WHEN WE NEEDED YOUR HELP! HOW COULD YOU, YOU HAVE GOT TO BE THE LOWEST-!"

"There was nothing I could, please keep your voice down," he whimpered. "We're in the hives."

"The hives?" Her heart sank to her feet. "The hives of…what, the Saimyoushou? Or…"

Kagome began to see a pattern in the crystals, in hexagons.

"A different sort of Saimiyoushou, different breed. Those flowers you see are made directly from human fear and these Saimysho eat their nector. And other demons that feed off human emotions, like the Crow demon and Moth demons. It's a storage place for them, a haven, that's why in the water..."

_I am so dead. _She trembled and glanced into the opaque depths surrounding them.

"Those lights…they're souls, aren't they? He did send me down here to die."

Kagome started to drift towards hysteria.

"Well, technically, you should be by now. Dead, that is. Your soul should have been ripped from you when you went through the river."

Then anger…

"RIPPED FROM MY BODY! THAT-THAT BASTARD!" Her words resounded further down the cavern.

"LADY KAGOME, PLEASE BE QUIET!" The small body began to jump up and down in anxiety. The waters roared up behind them, sounding like a mesh of pleas and the last cries of men. She ran to avoid the crashing crest that tried to wash her over the side. Breathing hard, she decided it might be a good idea to whisper. The tide seemed to be pressing them on, and Kagome was forced to start walking again. She stomped forward, clenching her fists and not caring if that hurt.

"Now, now, I do not think it's his intention to kill you yet, my lady. You are, after all, the proper guardian of the Shikon no Tama," the old rural voice whispered soothingly.

"Hah, that's a laugh," she hissed back. "Some guardian I am. I'm sure you mean Kikyo, cause far be it from Kikyo to make a mistake. It's my fault that it broke in the first place. He never stopped reminding me, even after all we had been through, even after I-I" Her breath caught heavily. "I don't understand what I did wrong. The jewel shards were so…polluted. I did the best I could then Kikyo gave them to Naraku after stealing them from me. Even then, it was okay, Kikyo had a plan, you see, gave Naraku the nails for his coffin, right, makes sense, doesn't it? All that power was just killing him, I could tell. And the few shards I had, that she allowed me to keep, just started becoming worse, more tainted. I thought I could do it, I thought it was my…right, the perfect Kikyo lost it when she got herself killed, fell in a stupid trap anyone could have seen through and-."

She realized what she had said and gasped, reddening.

"You think I'm a horrible person, don't you? Inuyasha…he's dead, and I loved him, so much that I thought I would die, and here I'm talking about…I'm talking about Kikyo and the shards and who was the better...what, version of us? How she died, I can't take that way. She died doing what she thought was right, in those circumstances, with so many lives at stake. There's no way around it, she died for him. She couldn't go on living without him, even after she thought he had hurt her, and I'm still here, alive. I'm a horrible person, and I think I'm going to go insane. You read my palm once, remember. Bad luck, remember."

Kagome started to cry harder than she ever had. She considered stepping off, diving off into the lake to be forgotten. Screw the Shikon no Tama and Naraku. Inuyasha was gone. The old demon seemed at a loss.

"Um, I, I don't think that's quite what I meant by…you're not horrible, one of the most virtuous ladies I have met, and I've lived for centuries. Do try to stop crying, you speak in anger, that's all. And I might…might I mention that…Lord Inuyasha might not be dead," he offered helpfully.

"He's alive," Kagome gasped. A fleeting, impossible hope darted in front of her, but she feared reaching for it. It couldn't be true. "How can that be? I saw something come from the Shikon no Tama, I saw it, just the mass of, of all that dark energy…it killed them. Miroku, Sango, Shippou, and…Inuyasha. It covered them up. No way could they have survived."

"Well, I believed that myself. I was there and from what I witnessed-!"

She snatched him up again.

"You were right there? And you just watched?" she questioned sadly. The old flea started to shake himself, and she thought she saw tears.

"Oh, Lady Kagome, I tried to talk Inuyasha out of it. When he left your side, I begged him to reconsider. He could never fight well without you. And he wouldn't listen! To me, his trusted Myouga! I knew he had to be under a spell. ('Yeah.' Kagome sighed. 'The spell of first love…') To have agreed to let Naraku have the last shard!"

"What?" She let out a strained laugh. "I know Inuyasha. He would never give anything to Naraku."

Kagome felt confident this time. Even if there had been a 'plan', Inuyasha just didn't do tactics. He would rather win heads on than by trickery. He was honorable to a fault. Also, unlike most who responded to stimuli-thought-reaction, Inuyasha favored the shortcut which involved conveniently skipping the middle step. And then there was Naraku who never did anything directly. He would have seen to it that he gained the last shard through malice and seemingly endless, convoluted ploys. And Kikyo knew them both.

"Lord Inuyasha…seemed very ill. Then I was bested by the late 'Lady' Kikyo. She crushed me with a rock. The faithful servant of the great taiyouki Lord Inutaisho, underneath a rock! It was my darkest hour."

"Then…Myouga, what do you think went wrong with the Shikon no Tama? And how can In-my friends be alive?"

Kagome glanced behind her and saw the water was keeping pace, eating the land she last stood on. She ventured to peer closer and saw cloth floating nearby. She broke out into a cold sweat, a dark fear rising up inside of her, and tried valiantly to pretend she was somewhere else, maybe a beach with the waves murmuring onto the sand. It was hard with death so close at hand, just behind her, rushing behind her.

"I have a theory. As you know, the Shikon no Tama was forged by souls, some of demons and two of mortals, one of a lusting man and the other of a pure miko. We were under the impression that the very existence of the jewel, in the case of Kikyo and Onigumo, was cyclic. It seemed to want to 'relive' its birth. It made a choice to do so. I believe by that time the jewel had formed its own consciousness, though a divided one. Kikyo's decision to bring it into the flames with her might have ended this cycle, and despite her recent, um, doings, that was mostly like her intention. But, alas, her s-,"

Kagome stiffened.

"Er, I mean to say des-,"

"I get it," she whispered coldly, looking straight forward. "Go on."

"Well," he stammered. "It was reborn again, and somehow conquered death, which shows how powerful the jewel had become. It attached itself to a soul. It showed a will to live. When it became, um, divided, it passed through several hands. More importantly, it became somewhat easily influenced. Looking back on it, I can't believe I missed this possibility. Lady Kagome, if I may offer my opinion, you might not have been at fault for the Jewel's shattering."

She remained silent.

"Midoriko's soul served as a buffer against the other personalities meshed in the Shikon no Tama. When it divided so did her strength. The others became one, so to speak. To think about all those it's been in contact with, this result is inevitable. Lord Inuyasha's brother, for one," the flea paused to shudder. "That wolf demon. And the most influential of them all, Naraku himself. Of course, there were many other contacts, each with a level of greed.. Maybe it learned the most from humans."

…..

Kagome suddenly pictured Sango, half-dead and eyes strangely alive with a thirst, rushing at Inuyasha, burning with the desire to kill him for revenge. To take his life and her with nothing else, to set things right...Then her face, desperate and lost, wild, as she screamed at Inuyasha, pointing at Kikyo who was safely behind him holding the last, blood-crusted shard in her hands, coolly watching the scene yet her eyes somewhere else, reflective and searching, the look of the martyr. Kohaku lay nearby, almost looking asleep propped up against a tree.

Seemingly caught in the above Sango's brother were the souls that found a place with Kikyo, the souls that kept her animated in her wake.

Inuyasha stood in between, hands outward and protective. His eyes looked sad yet determined and loyal. Kagome had once loved that about him. Kikyo had let out a gasp suddenly, raising a limber hand to her mouth as if struck, and they had all frozen: Inuyasha's ears perked up, waiting, and Sango jerked her head predatorily at the miko.

Kikyo who looked as pure as the snow not yet melted, as pure as the day her life was cut, put one hand on Inuyasha's shoulder, the very motion intimate, and the other still in front of her cupid shaped lips. Her posture reminded Kagome of schoolgirl who had just stumbled upon a treasure-trove of the latest gossip unexpectedly; Kagome knew she would always have an innocence, she would never age. Kikyo's eyes danced lithely and she smiled knowingly. Sango stepped back quickly, her tense body shaking with tremors. Each woman looked around Inuyasha who was in the middle and at a loss.

"Selfish," Kikyo had uttered sagely. "You are all so selfish. When did you ever stop to see past yourselves?"

Miroku stepped forward besides Sango. Both pairs faced each other in a stand off. Kagome watched from the sides, clasping her hands nervously. "You guys…I'm sure that…" She hadn't known what to say. They were her friends. They were her family, sometimes knowing her better than she knew herself. She had wanted to say, 'What do you know, Kikyo? We saw past each other, accepting everything, cherishing everything. To find yourself in someone else…What do you know?' But she remained silent, watching the cancer grow. It was her greatest regret.

Kikyo continued gaining momentum, head held back in a self-righteous tilt, though her mouth held pity.

"Allowing his soul to be imprisoned where he could never rest. You are his sister and you destroyed him by not ending his misery. To offer him lies of hope when you were too afraid to take his death on your shoulders. Or should I believe that you had his interests at heart…As if he could live after dying so young. You think that you, a mere slayer, could give him that? I can see through you, you were hoping for his life to end then you have your grief and your blame. You're free now, to hate me for doing what you should have done with your own hands."

Sango looked on the verge of collapse. Miroku stepped up to support her, his usually calm, kind face in a storm, and said, "Enough. You know nothing of Sango. You don't have a history of sound judgments. It was possible, he could have lived, but now you wasted that, all for that shard."

"For the greater good-."

"At the very least, if he was to die, he should have been with those who care for him. It was you, Lady Kikyo, who denied him rest by not letting him say his peace to Sango. As you are aware, priestess, to die haboring such bitterness and misunderstanding is a most dishonorable death. Perhaps you wished to share the experience."

Inuyasha sprang to life, grabbing the monk by the robe and hoisting him up in the air. His staff fell to the earth with a feeble rattle.

"YOU SHUT YOUR MOUTH, OR I'LL SHUT IT FOR YOU, MONK!"

Kagome felt a piece of herself die at these words. A wiser, older voice inside of her whispered of the end of them all, that there was no chance of survival now. Presenting a broken front to the enemy...she cast her gaze to the shadows of the trees, searching. _Where are you, here's your moment, you're here, aren't you? Please let this be because of you. It's not us. We're not like this, this is you. _This is an illusion.

Sango reached for Hiraikotsu. "Put him down," she hissed. It's not real. It's not happening.

"Stop," she whispered. Shippou hopped on her shoulder, trembling. "Kagome, make them stop fighting."

Kikyo appeared again, looking politely disgusted.

"Inuyasha, he speaks out of ignorance. Don't lower yourself like this, I can't bear such brutality from you," she soothed as she placed a hand on the hanyou's wrist currently wrapped around Miroku's neck. "I will take his anger on my shoulders. To end this on-going curse that I allowed I will take all they have to give and bear it for them."

She turned to face the bewildered group with the most beautiful expression. Kagome drew in a breath. It held a serenity that made her blinding; her eyes were glistening with a tragic meekness and a silent strength. And such giving smile blossomed on her features. _A miko, a true miko, and I'm in your image. You reflect my…ugliness. _

Inuyasha fell in love with Kikyo again. It wasn't because of promising by blood or a past he had spent the rest of his life atoning for. At that moment, she seemed like a pearl dropped from heaven.

"You speak of my past…yes. I had a hand in creating your sufferings. You must understand that I feel…I have cursed you." She closed her eyes and clenched the shard tightly. "Once, I was like you, through I wasn't supposed to be. I felt too much, even though I swore not to. I sheltered…a monster. I didn't see past myself. Selfish, I was selfish. I didn't want to feel the blood on my hands, I didn't want to be surrounded by corpses, and I didn't want my life. And the gods took it. They brought me back to see what is born from selfishness. Your brother (she motioned to Sango humbly) I had already killed before today, I killed him at the castle. I shot him with arrows and I brought him back to life. Don't hate me for that power."

Miroku turned to look at Kagome, trying to convey something with his eyes. He looked horrified. All she could see was the bruise on his neck.

"Your brother passed peacefully, I give you my word; to me, he was like my child. His soul meant a great deal to me. I spoke to you in such a manner because I lost this battle. But I can still win the war, for you. I don't want you involved in my mistakes. You must trust me; trust that I can make things right. Midoriko has chosen me, Inuyasha is our witness. You know his nature; he would not lie, even…"

Kikyo let it hang in the air but it seemed like she had roared out the words to echo back at them. _For me…_She was declaring war and not just on Naraku.

"Place your fate in our hands. I see clearly now." She glanced at Inuyasha. "We were the first. It is our right to finish it together."

Inuyasha nodded in unquestioning acceptance.

"Inuyasha, be careful! This woman has a tongue like Naraku. She's trying to separate you from us!" Miroku shouted. "You're only strong with Lady Kagome!"

Kikyo's ethereal calm rippled a bit then her eyes dulled to passivity. A lost child, she was like a lost child. She moved aside as if to say 'Choose. Do what you like'.

Inuyasha looked bewildered and quite pale; at this instant, they matched perfectly, both lost children. His eyes looked frightened and caught.

Sango's lips were drawn back in a rage.

"Talk about your guilt to me! About your sacrifices! About battles! Did you fight for him?! No, you appear near the end, as the hand of mercy, as the hand to take the last shard, that's all you care about!....I could kill you, for calling him your child…I COULD KILL YOU! HE WAS WORTH TEN OF YOU!"

And Inuyasha bristled, eyes hardening, and before Kagome could even say a word, if she could have, she lost him. She wondered if she ever had him.

"Keh," Inuyasha sneered. "That brat…he's better off now, Sango, face it. Kikyo's worth more than any of you put together. I would have finished Naraku off by now, if it wasn't for your hang-ups. No, I always had to hold back. Besides," his voice softened. "Midoriko chose Kikyo, not-."

He shrugged. _No, you chose Kikyo. And you can't even say my name. _

"I pray for you, Inuyasha. I pray for mercy on your soul," Miroku said sadly. "I overestimated you. How many times can you be tricked?! How many times do you have to die-."

Kikyo held up her hands for him to stop.

"Enough…before you go too far," she whispered. "I have said the blessings for Kohaku, Sango. Have your peace with him."

Sango lunged forward, and Miroku restrained her. She began to weep brokenly. Kikyo smiled at Miroku, sending him a respectful nod and motioned for Inuyasha. She paused thoughtfully.

"I'll return the favor, monk, for your prayers. Your soul will know something greater; I give you everything for your trials."

And with that, she walked boldly past, carrying the last shard, with Inuyasha following her steps. Towards Kagome. Kagome wanted more than anything in the world to be swallowed from sight, to disappear completely.

Sango gaped at the flickering lights in her shadow. Kagome had wondered to. 'Was Kohaku among them?'

Then it happened. Kikyo had become even with Kagome, and she looked out of the corner of her eye suddenly. Kagome was determined to hold the gaze evenly when…she beheld a change in that beautiful face. It contorted. It smirked playfully. The eyes moved quickly to challenge her, and its eyes were deep and wide and knowing. _Be back for you later. _Those eyes were new. Flittering with something close to love but so dark that would drown soon; a keen fascination of a collector pinning down a butterfly.

…..

Kagome cried out at the realization. She had seen it! Right in Kikyo's face, right in front of her! It had been talking to them through Kikyo. _Don't hate me for that power. _

"Oh, it learned from him, Myouga. It's like him, is him," she whispered, holding up her arm once more. A sick feeling of hate made it seem like the marks were spreading. She had never felt like this before. _My friends had been wounded inside, now am I?_

"Well, needless to say, this more…negative personality was dominate when Midoriko was removed from the Shikon no Tama all together. And…you may be more right than you know. It's trying to form its own body."

_That shape crawling from the jewel in his hand…_

"But it couldn't! It tried but it couldn't, even when it was complete."

The flea hmphed knowingly. "Too many parts without a crucible. A body and a soul to fuse it together. And something with this great of power…heh, it needs a strong soul to contain it. It was searching at the time, taking in everything it could of demons and humans. Imagine how much 'materials' needs to maintain itself, quite amazing sight to behold, never saw anything like it in all my years. (She glared at him angrily)."

"It pushedNaraku away. And took everyone else. There were no bodies left. Are you saying that Inuyasha's soul is…What? Where does that leave me? What do I do? Tell me what to do! Why are there two of us left?!"

Kagome grimaced at the implication. Us, part of them…no, that… that separate other that made them one, they stood against him…was that all that had held them together?

"There is no us. It's just me left of us. Kami, they didn't deserve to be…and I brought it back here. How do you think that makes me feel?! I practically killed them! And they, the good, great people, these lives are a part of this…horrible, malicious, evil thing. That was in me! But no, let me ask you this, why didn't it at least take him to? It could have at least eaten him to." She cut the flea's voice short. "And what the…the hell is this?!"

Kagome motioned to her arm.

"That-is very bad. You seem to have miasma taking place of your blood."

She stared.

"Um, the good news is you're still alive. Kikyo had some of your soul inside of her; your soul or souls are spread out else where, on this world still. So you made it through this gateway that eats souls. There was no way to be sure before, if the being hadn't fused completely yet into one whole consciousness, but-."

"I was an experiment. For him. And for you too, huh? I hate you."

"LADY KAGOME! I-YOU-YOU HATE ME?!"

The waters were moving faster now, coursing with shapes and limbs, and she saw something up ahead. Something that looked like the beginnings of a shrine but a horrible mockery of one. The material was human bones, yellowed over time and cracked to the point of splinters.

She reflected. She was about to enter a gateway of human bones, surrounded by an endless grave, and above this sight walls were gradually changing. It was a hive, made-out of that thick fluid that still hung in her hair, that ooze that smelled putrid and sharp. It dripped from the ceiling in droves, coming from the small flowers. It smelled like…fear.

Inside the little cells were shapes, outlines.

Kagome stopped just short of the deviation of an epiphany. The fear of death was a natural thing, right? It showed you were alive. But she wasn't afraid. She tried to find the coiled thing inside her but shivered when she could not. What was wrong with her?

"I guess I shouldn't say such evil things before I...go to hell," she said in a monotone voice. "You'll stay. With me. You owe me that much, buddy."

And with more deftness at knot-tying than she was aware she possessed, Kagome had successfully wrapped a loose thread from her torn uniform around the flea demon. He didn't struggle. He always struggled for a clean getaway in dangerous situations. Did that mean…

"Why aren't you trying to hide?" she demanded suspiciously.

"You think that lowly of me?"

"…."

He sighed, downtrodden.

"The being from the Jewel won't let you die, priestess, because…you are important to it. That's why you still breathe with miasma in your blood and your soul spread out, half-absorbed. You are human. And that is what, I think, it desires most, humanity."

Kagome opened her mouth to protest against this outrageous accusation when cold, rubbery hands wrapped firmly around her ankles. She choked. Droplets ran into her socks.

"Andwetalklater," Myouga squeaked and ducked into her hair.

Cold…a weird, cold perspiration broke over her in waves. Like the waves filled with…

It took every once of control she had to look down. She felt time past, slip by, flee by, while she lowered her head slowly. A swift moment of hysteria was knocking against her control, threatening to take over. She couldn't see this, not this, didn't want to-

A gray face peered up at her, eyes twice as large as the child from the Shikon no Tama and black hair fanning around it. The woman's oval face was wrinkled from its place from underneath and colors of her kimono faded, the flowers wilted. The eyes remained focused on her, rolled up as it struggled with limp, unnatural motions to join her on the bridge, flopping around slightly while using her leg for support. Dripping the liquid everywhere. That was the only thing that keep her connected to this moment, the only thing that made this real. The sound of the drops hitting the rock, the sound of the fabric scrapping against the rock, oh Kami, a body of a dead woman was climbing up towards her. The funny thing was the look on her own face, reflected in the puddle it was making. Its feet were bare.

_Seen this before, from him, from Kagura with her fan, dead walking, but never alone and this one won't leave, won't fall over. Alone! Please just go back down there, leave me alone! _

Later on, she thought she remembered laughing. Laughing of all things. But she heard herself laughing and her laughter echoing back down and the thing looking at her, eyes focused yet…not human at all and glistening from tears formed by the lake. The lips were cracked and worn, the strange substance drifting through them.

She laughed. _Was her eyes always that black or is that death? _She kept laughing even as it straightened up, the back curving up to support itself, cracking. She had one thought. _I won't forgive you for this. Not this. _Then another: _Can't you do better? You've done puppets before. Losing your touch. I can see the strings. _Then its face was in hers and suddenly it wasn't so funny after all. _Not yours. Something else's…puppet. _

A hand slip through hers, squishing slightly, and the feeling almost drove her to oblivion. _Been through worse! You hear me?! Worse!_ And this she believed. Kagome recovered herself and waited. _What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. _

The woman pulled her along, moving surprisingly well, leading her up the steps made from…well, she stopped looking. For some reason, she focused on the long hair the woman had had, still held up with an ornate, rusted pin in the form of a butterfly. _What jewel was that then, I wonder?_ The kimono, the layers eaten away, must have been breath-taking, with lotus flowers in what might have been red. The ink had run. _You were a noble, weren't you? A hime, maybe? Yeah, the eyebrows tell it. Thirty years old, I guess. Not going to hurt me, right…_

Kagome slipped from the trail made by the heavy threaded material, the strands weaving on the stones. It drug her along till she managed to learn how to walk on the slick soles of her shoes, moving towards a call she couldn't hear.

This was journeying from a horrible nightmare right into sheer madness. Just madness. The stones were darkened, on the path they walked, outlined in these pale blooms not meant to be seen, smelling of fear; she just knew that's what it was. They feed on fear, the demons down here. _Did they take you in the night? Away from you home, from your life down here to make you afraid just so they could…_

Those hands were the veins showed had gashes along the knuckles that had stopped healing. _You fought it. That's all you had left. Look, we match, with our… no offense, I can tell you if Kikyo had looked like you I would have had no trouble at all. _

Around them, like walls of a castle, were the with shadows of small figures in them. Around this time, Kagome started swallowed her pride as it was quickly diminishing and tried calling for him. She had crossed over a shaking plateau before; she had made contact with him. She tried to regain that footing once more. _Naraku? _

No response at all. The woman held her arm in a form of gentleness…or indifference. She saw the miasma running through it. _Answer me! I KNOW you're watching… so what are you looking for, huh? What do you have your greedy hea- heh, set on? _Kagome tried to think like him. She tried to picture what she had seen again, so many fragments of thoughts into one. Then her heart stopped.

"Myouga," she hissed in dismay. A tug on her hair and a pull on the thread from her collar. "He's dying."

_Unraveling, coming apart, aren't you?! _

There was a stuttering in her ear, a 'tsh'ing sound of surprise. Then the thread became taunt. He was trying to get away! And speaking of unraveling, her collar was starting to diminish alarmingly. Unbelievable…she pinched the thread with quick precision, feeling a thump on her back.

"I can be of so much more service to you if I go back up and keep…ah…never mind," he groaned. "Are you certain?!"

"Yeah."

A strange feeling arose in her, one quite indescribable. It just didn't seem like, well…he could be 'dying'. That was a far off goal but now it seemed like another loss, another deviation. And she wasn't one to enjoy someone else's pain, no matter who they were, even if it was Naraku. She had imagined if they finally had him cornered…it had not ended like she had thought it would, for her. And the Shikon no Tama staged its grand act of rebellion. How long had it waited for that moment, after all her efforts to make things right? Then it went right for its master, pierced the nearly untouchable demon, and it had managed to…take something he still needed? To exist…

A droning sound broke into her thoughts. Coming from everywhere. The hand that she had strangely found comfort in let go. She was in the heart of the hives. The smell was worse in here. A pulsing beat from the ground, the droning sank down to her from above her head. The preceded to cover every inch. Hands were sprayed out, touching the inside of the nectar cells, preserved in a strange sort of amber. Kagome spotted the source of the noise. Saimyoushou, bigger than the ones she was used to, lowering down to swarm. A sharp increase of volume roared in her ear, and she shrank away; one brushed her arm, the feeling of the fuzz made her skin crawl. _All over me…_

The insect pierced violently though her guide, ripping through the kimono, and there was a brief spasm across the face. Kagome screamed, for a moment questioning whether the soul still lurked in the limbs. The body was drug back towards the sorrowful lake, the feet bumping with the indentions of the stones. A ghost of a memory forced back to be forgotten and the family would never know. Perhaps this was a foreshadowing of what her fate was.

Kagome had found the heart, in this ancient grave. The light had turned orange, streaming through the making the figures exaggerated and shadows settle upon her small figure, looking like they reached for her.

"You've noticed them, eh? Human children have the simplest fears but the most powerful and succulent."

The gravelly voice came from within the dirty and dank shadows, and she made out a crude throne and glistening, shattered, eyes glazed from age where she was reflected ten-fold in a dusty mirror. The wings were heavy and threaded, full of holes and coarseness, and one leg was half eaten away. A moth demon covered with white, sickly looking hair matted down in thick patches. _This thing is old. I can feel it weighing down the air. _Like a dark idol sewn together from the instinctive fear of the dark.

"What are you that entered through the river with your soul? A demon in a form of a human girl in strange garments? To kill me or steal from me…are you a thieving witch child hiding your soul on the land? I know you kill. I smell the blood on you."

Though it asked her about her purpose (maybe of slaying it), it wasn't afraid. No, it seemed strangely excited with eyes wet and remains of a mouth quivering.

Kagome wished vehemently that she had her bow. This thing kills children.

"I," she struggled to maintain her composure. "You're right. There is a thief here but it isn't me." She drew in a breath and opened her arms in a mocking presentation. She was in a bad mood now. "I have no weapons to kill you with. That's all that's holding me back. I'm not scared of you. What am I? I'm just Kagome…" Then an inspiration hit. "…the well-loved and equally feared miko. You might have heard of me."

The moth demon recoiled visibly. She smiled gracefully. _How's fear feel? Like it now! _If it feared her, it might cast her out of this hell. Once her feet hit the warm earth again…she had a score to settle. Though it still bothered her that she couldn't figure out what Naraku had in mind.

"Why…I'..ve even held off the Lord of the Western Lands with my powers. Then a whole herd of bat demons I purified with a single arrow! One! (_Nothing wrong with putting it on a little thick_ she thought smugly) And that Kaguya, not that I'm bragging but-."

"The pet bitch of that hanyou!" the moth demon howled, spreading its wings wide. "Murderer of my clan!"

"S…so you have heard of me." She placed her hands on her hips in what she hoped was a threatening manner. Through her fear and exhaustion, she felt a kernel of anger pop. A heaviness settled in between her shoulders.

"I shall," It's distinctions of a mouth opened slowly, showing a mouth full of decaying razors. "Enjoy devouring your fears. Your dead lover can't protect you now, 'miko'."

_He wasn't, we…_a horrible pressure was building up behind her eyes. _Never were like that because there was always something in between us. Even when she wasn't there, Kikyo…I felt her presence more than I felt his. Now he's not dead not alive. Not here. _

The moth demon was huge, almost as large as the collection of bodies in the lake of tears. It filled the entire nest, wings scraping the catacombs, Saimyoushou drifting around it like the souls around Kikyo. As a child, Kagome had once heard the beating of a butterfly's wings could cause a tornado across the world. Now she was in the eye of the storm. She followed it with her eyes passively and spellbound, breathing heavily. She was very small. _You've made your point. It's real, happening, I understand, I'll do anything, please just come…_

"I'm only human," she muttered. "After all."

It lowered itself, and again the smell worsened with every inch it grew closer. It cupped its arm around her. The multilayer flecks of mirrors arrayed in a fashion of armor on the wall moistened, all the better to see her with.

"I must warn you though." Kagome heard herself say; words just started pouring out of her mouth. "Someone up there is very attached to me, under circumstances, and if he finds out you've killed me, or something, he'll make you pay. He'll devour you, I've seen that before, trust me, I wouldn't want to be you if…"

"With the soul in your body torn in half, witch child, I wouldn't want to be you," it uttered thoughtfully, as though it hadn't seen anything quite like her. And, drowning in her own image, there was a tug on the inside and she screamed as her consciousness split on the thin seams holding her together.

When she swam up towards awareness, feeling like she was traveling in the well from between times of her life, Kagome realized something was amiss. A caress against her cheek and familiar wild scent brought her eyes open to a night sky at full bloom, covering her from in between blades of grass. The ground was warm and soft. The sliver of the moon caused a reaction in her that skipped hand-in-hand with confusion as she dug her fingers into the soil. An important event, dire yet secretly yearned for was a flutter of intuition, though she couldn't quite place the name to the flutter.

_I am only myself when I fight. To find a place. _

Kagome pushed back her hair and sat up in the field, in wonder at this place. A simple field, a plot of land with water wrapped around it in protection, its lifeline, but was full of a sense of belonging, like old friend. It grew blossoms, sakura blossoms sticking in the stalks like snow, flittering around like moths. Within this field were memories of stories from her youth, the rippling of the man-made river a melody. As a child, she had loved tales of great warriors. Her foot brushed by a speckled, rusted sword, almost buried in the dirt, the blooms laying in mourning. Warmth radiated from the handle, as though recently held.

_Oh how pitiful it is _

_That mountain cherry trees _

_Whether they be young or old _

_Whether they blossom early or late _

_Must in the end shed their flowers_

_Sakura blossoms out of season…_never had she seen a more beautiful sight, a more lonely sight. A few drifted by peacefully. The sound of a splash caught her attention; some petals were being pulled under, leaving circles in their wake. Then she knew something was in the water. She knew something was in the trees across the water.

Kagome felt herself move forward, padding curiously toward the ripples, careful of the fragile sword. Instead crushing a spinning top. Children must have played here amongst the stalks, hiding from duty and glowing at the sight of the small, wooden toy crafted so finely. She was sorry she broke it.

She needed to cross the water. She knew she had to cross, the flutter of intuition turning into a roar of a tsunami. Kagome stepped boldly across, in mid step, before she glanced down. A girl she knew was underneath the twisting current. Heat rose from her heart, burning her eyes. The armor was decayed but the body remained the same, arms drifting to life. Bubbles broke the surface.

"You…I know you," she breathed.

Out of her heart came that voice. Another blossom twirled by and the face changed. Kagome leapt out of the water, droplets flying and raining back down. The walls of the river collapsed; dirt swirled in, eating the blossoms hungrily, and her friend was lost.

Kagome raced forward, digging her small hands in the damp earth fanatically.

"She'll dig herself out. She has before," said a soothing voice, stuck between youth and experience, joy of life and the weight of it.

A young man with deep, quiet eyes and a kind, emerging smile, though hesitant, in the robes of a monk sat on a tree stump, leaning forward over a row of decorated white slips of paper, picking up one and then the other with a flick of his wrists. The only sign of nervousness was his haste in doing so.

"You can wait with me if you like," he offered offhandedly. "Do you like games?"

He reached for another slip, flipping it over and frowning. "Hmm…"

"She!" Kagome stumbled forward, pointing to the place. "Isn't she! She can't breathe! Help me get her out!"

The monk held up a row of paper.

"Shhh. She's asleep. She'll come out when it's time. Let her rest for now, she's tired."

"Time for what?"

"Did you know her? That woman?" He looked up curiously, mouth curved in interest.

"I-I think so. I just can't remember right now. It hurts...to know," she said, realizing something was tight in her chest. Kagome held her hand to the pain.

"Huh…I hurt there too. It helps to focus on other things to pass the time." He motioned for her to sit by him. She came closer, stopping across from him. He tilted his head. "If you don't mind me saying, you are…very beautiful. To think…if you were to smile…I would see the very path to enlightenment."

Despite his words, she could not find the strength.

"Have faith, everything will fall into place. Here, take one." She looked at him solemnly. "You seem like someone who would like this game. You seem like you'd be a natural. These cards," He tapped one knowingly. "If you can't find the answer, they will…"

The azure gaze moved to the place the young woman, just a few years older than herself, lay. "My father was a man of spirit. I suppose that had something to do with why I followed in his path. I was raised in the temple, before and after his death. But, at first, I couldn't help but hate every moment though I regret it now. When he was alive, I should have lived every day like my last…I didn't see the point. Death isn't finicky, after all. It took the end of my father's life to make me a man. He died horribly, my father, but he died without fear. He was strong because he could see. Because the signs are there. You just have to allow yourself to see past what you want to see. The look in his eyes made me want to live, no matter what the cost, until I became like him."

Kagome had never felt closer to anyone before; that he would share this story with her made her wonder what he could possibly see in her.

"First thing you have to do is lose your fear of who you are and what you think you can and can not do. Then you take a chance." The cards floated once more within her reach.

_What's the harm? _

Shrugging to herself, she took the card. Flipping it over, she saw the character 'Fool' etched in red.

She threw it like she had been burned. Under her arm were marks, purplish and spreading, blooming in a spider web. The monk broke apart. Into jufu's with the words marked through with scratches like fingernails, into bat wings of paper that flew into the air up to join the stars.

And something joined her.

The footfalls were swift and by the time the fluttering papers had vanished, it was behind her. Something was behind her. A hand clutched her marred uniform and pulled lightly, playfully, and fondly. Innocently. Curious thing it was…she could see its shadow draped on the ground where the monk once stood. Looked like a little girl with her head at a tilt trying to understand an idea above her head. Never mind the posture was predatory, the head too far over to be natural.

"Sister," it said. "My sister."

The words were merely that, words, without meaning or emotional association, with no emotion at all. Just fragments of an idea, a fact. In that voice came thousands of voices. She could hear herself in it, somewhere, along with his subtle and deadly voice. And voices she would remember past this dream. Later, Kagome realized Sango's was one, adding to the identity it had chosen, one of femininity and birth. The pride of others, like Sesshoumaru, was there too. Too many elements to name flowing in just brief impressions. Powerful impressions.

In a tumult of cracked memories and the confusion of shock, she felt a terrible pain, a terrible cold everywhere born from a more terrible knowing. This is what had crawled from a Shikon no Tama empty of Midoriko's soul that day.

"Why. Call me that?" she asked.

"Because it is so. We were born together. We are blood sisters."

She said nothing in response because the guilt she had for bringing the Shikon no Tama to this time, any time at all, reinforced the truth.

"You are a good sister, for holding me so close to your heart. For ridding me of that overbearing bitch."

Kagome gaped. The multilayered voice had melted completely, the earlier distinctions lost. It oscillated dangerously from forced emotions, from gentleness to violence, though she could tell it was playing with its presentation, toying with things it didn't know. Using words as a test to see if it cared for a particular 'personality' and casting that one away to try on another face in a masquerade. It was masquerading as a human girl. She glanced behind cautiously, not wanting to see its face but wanting to see its proximity to her.

Cut, bleeding bare feet was what greeted her.

"Until I feel pain in the wounds, I shall not heal them. I will walk until I feel it."

_It wants to feel-pain?! A weakness…a human weakness. _

"You want to become…human," Kagome said more to herself. It filled her with amazement, that in the hands of demons, the worst of demons, the Shikon no Tama…

"I don't think you'll like it," she told it numbly. "Pain. Physical or otherwise. I…how could _you_, whatever you are, want that?"

She didn't have to look to see its empty smile and the struggle it waged to make one.

"You ask that, with all your interesting tragedies and legends in your mind…I've watched. I know pain but can not have it. Hate has bled on me, yet it escaped into the fire. Even that of need…I use, I am used, and know need. That I know deeply. And am gone from it. Your brief, little lives, fragile things, fallen and cut, are full of these. You don't know, you are. You are…beautiful to me. In a single flicker, as long as a flame, you have lived longer than the demons around you, aged beyond them. You appreciate the simplest of things. The monk is beautiful to me. His end he finds meaning in. And the slayer he loved so much, he spoke of pain. In his eyes he knew more than me, something I don't. A secret you hold from me," it whispered in obsession. "I learn. I learn more from you humans. You have all the colors in the world, living in each, being gods among your fellows, taking from them, wicked with your thoughts, and so good when you choose to be, so brave when you want to be, deciding to die for a purpose, for the 'right'. With mere will, you will succeed and fight, even if your bodies betray you; what proud things you are even when you hate and lust... I will find what it is you hide. What a soul is, where it runs from even my sight. Maybe, when I am reborn, I shall even fall in 'love'."

Kagome recoiled as she heard herself whisper that word.

"Maybe I will die tragically for love. Without thought for preservation. I shall die young, for something that can not be seen, for a feeling that hurts out of my grasp, my control. Then I live again, my own breathes and own heart. Again. And again."

Kagome was amazed and something burned within her soul. She felt tears within her, a quiet horror. This greedy thing willing to take and take from their souls, until there was nothing left, this greedy thing was willing... What had she done to have that Jewel in her body?

"A monster like you could never be human. Never," she hissed.

"Sister…mother. I can stop death, give life, the candle that I can see your souls." Gentleness at first, a voice guileless. Then a viciousness she had never heard except from the darkest parts of her being but nothing meant to be in the light. Even Naraku wouldn't have had the voice she heard next.

"I am beyond you, you would go mad if you glimpsed my true being. I choose who deserves to live…your darkest fears I know. I was inside of you for ages. I wanted for you, Kagome. With your love. The pain you allow to yourself for others. Your simple, selfless fears for your family-that superstitious way in which you believed that since your friends had suffered so, it would happen to you as well, spread to you like a disease. I spared you from this, protected my sister's family beyond the well. He could not reach them. Yet you think time stops me. A human can walk off the street and slaughter your family at my will. Your mother could be seized by madness and slip poison into the rice at dinner. I would do so, if only to see your feelings you wear. The need you have to not be alone, to be loved, to be painted in your eyes." It slipped darker still, primal and vast as the night, a lightless night, the thing you feared coming in the night. "They beg after I give them everything, take their burdens and pangs of their heart that they hated. And they cry for them back. Selfish, selfish, you humans are. To take from me, and then you won't give me what I want!"

It said it couldn't hate. It hated her, she was sure. For what she was, what it wasn't.

"I do not hate. I told you that. Though I want to." _In her head. _"I imagine I love you. After waiting so long. You suffer now, beautiful even now. Help me and I help you. You will be my body, the source of my life, and you won't have to hurt there, in your heart, any longer. The freedom you will have because I want to love my sister. And how he will suffer in the end because I want to hate him for trying to hurt you, with you all bonded in our hatred. If you will not, I will find joy, if I must use the souls I have already, in destroying you in your greatest tragedy, the height of your fruitless rebellion burning against my power, and not ending till you wish for death, crave it, but you shall never know death. The both of you…I have learned and will play as long as I like. Do you like games, Kagome?"

While she listened, Kagome grew to hate this being from the Shikon no Tama; now, it wasn't a nameless dark energy that had reacted, a reaction. No, now it had become the most disgusting, vile thing she had ever come across. _Lose your fear. _They were here, trapped here, and she would be damned if she was going to let it have them.

"I love games," she answered back, clenching her teeth. "Because I can love. I've got an advantage already. You picked the wrong reincarnation to play with. I'll never forgive you."

It slipped its small arms around her waist, in a mockery of a hug. It was cold as the moon that had awakened her.

"I expected nothing less from you."

A pain shot up from her arm, burning hot under the skin, and the thing hissed in frustration. A tapping sound made the forest shudder. A second time tore the world apart and she fled into the pain in her arm that pulled her from its grip.

The place she regained consciousness in was far less pleasant than the forest. She was drenched in her own fear, in that liquid smelling of misdirection. She was in the hive, now one of the shadows.

Kagome screamed loudly; she lost herself, seeing what had been inside her around her now. She lost control, kicking the absorbent walls with the sponge-like feeling, the Saimyoushou feeding off of her from outside her cell with fervor. She saw Sango under the water, trapped there, suffering there beyond compare. They were trapped there for amusement. It took their souls. IT TOOK THEIR SOULS! She hurt her hands and her feet in her rage.

Then such a pain hit her in her heart that it saved her from the nightmare that was killing her. Her body reacted badly to the miasma coursing through her. Had it reached her heart?

A playful knock on the made her turn weakly to see the source of the noise. Naraku was outside the cell, tapping with one hand slowly. His pale face was blank, black hair framing it in its unnatural perfection, a picture of a deviation, the colors contrasting with unhallowed and unforgiving power, but his eyes glittered with a strange, almost feverish light. _Fragmented…thing…_He studied her as though fascinated. If she hadn't known his name, she would have thought he was Death itself.

She feebly crawled in the foot deep liquid that smelled of oblivion and her tears. She put her hand against his own that he had placed against the barrier between them. She laughed as her mind processed who this strange being was, this something that was outside waiting for her. She laughed at her thoughts when she realized he had come. _Thank Kami. _

Miasma poured from his palm, and she had to pull her own hand away. The thick, hollow nectar sloshed forward, hissing as poison ate away at poison. She watched her fear burn away. In her distraction, she was pulled from the cramped hexagon swiftly, and she did not protest. She giggled slightly from nerves and frustration as well as the whole situation in general. She felt she owed him, as much as she disliked it. At least, she wasn't part of the Shikon no Tama yet. Also, when she faced her fear, sweated it out, even if he wanted her to break, he actually, incidentally, and accidentally helped her. Reality as she knew it was slipping. She literally felt her life changing upon a spindle.

Naraku gripped her shoulders harshly. She had to allow him to support her because if he removed his hands, she would fall. She kept her face hidden behind her bangs, cupping her mouth in an effort to regain control. For she had an insight that laughing in front of something that liked misery was a bad idea…though she couldn't stop. Her only hope was that he would think she was crying. He lifted up her bangs to discover the truth.

"Pathetic…you've lost your mind," he spoke without mercy and with satisfaction. "I knew you couldn't stand on your own."

He gave a knowing smirk, meant to cut, though she sensed he wasn't pleased, under the circumstances. He would have made her suffer as long as her body could withstand it. But not now…his eyes looked weaker than usual. She felt his shouki, his own warmth pulsing in his hands, and realized that he himself was here, not a puppet. She wondered how injured he was.

_Only ones left…_she shook her head, tears in her eyes from laughing.

"Wipe that smile off your face. I'm not crazy yet." She stared straight into his face. "Saving that part for you. What did you want from down here, anyway, after sending me in as a decoy?"

A sharp threatening tug on her heart…different from the message in his eyes. A form of acknowledge was in his eyes, it was as there as the miasma in her body. She removed his hand that clenched her bangs and held on to him to keep upright. His lip curled; he seemed to have an aversion to her maintaining contract. It was a tense moment but thankfully, his gaze shifted to taking their surroundings, searching for something.

And she thought about the child from the Shikon no Tama. _The game's on. _

_Author notes: the poem about the cherry blossoms was from a collection and the author was unnamed, at least there. Just disclaiming..._

_Responses:_

hakkai-my-youkai-Thank you so much! I tried to make this story plot interesting and new. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Jasmine Fields-Thanks! Trust me, the bond thing's going to get interesting. Naraku's intent...purely based on self-preservation at the moment. I always saw Kagome as the one he disliked the most out of the group, or the one he thought on the most as a threat.He greatly loathes the situation. But that intent will start to change.

Shey-I'm sorry I took so long! Yeah, I agree. I think Kagome has a great deal of spirit and determinationin her, and not afraid to speak her mind. She's a fun character to work with.

Steph-Thank you so much! As this is my first Inu fanfic, I appreciate that so much! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I tried to make it interesting.

The Bloody Queen of Hearts-I'm definitely going to update sooner, I promise! Thanks for reviewing.

Naroki-Thank you! You've been such an encouragement to me.Your detail was amazing on your fic! It drew in the audience very well. I look forward to your next story! I hope you found this chapter interesting!

profiler120- Wow, thanks! With your talent in suspense and all-around excellent plots, my fav. being The Incomplete, that means alot! Your review really inspired me to get this chapter out and updated!

OtakuSailorV-Thanks, trying to keep the action going! Oh, and please, please update Lost World. I have totally gotten absorbed into that story. It is beautifully written.

Golden-Eyed-Girl-Thanks! I hope this ending is equally as suspenseful. And by the way, I think you have an awesome talent at writing. Please update. I read Waiting For Your Love and adored it!

Nick Johnson-Thanks for reviewing and asking questions! I know it was a little confusing in the beginning. I might rewrite some chapters.The main plot is about the Shikon no Tama developing into a dangerous force in itself and taking on its own character. In a most evil way. And I want to have this little extra story about Kikyo's past in here somewhere. Maybe a later chap.This fic starts out near Kaede's village then moves down to the hives where Naraku got (took) some of his Saimyoushou3. Kagome is about to turn sixteen. Miroku and Sango are nineteen still. And Inuyasha is about seventy.Same group though in the first chap I kindadidn't mention Shippou. He slipped my mind at the time. But, yeah, the same meeting for the group and they've been traveling for a year and half maybe.The story lineis indentical to the manga, because the anime leaves stuff out sometimes. Like about the creation of the Shikon no Tama, I think they cut a bit from it and left out the man who lusted for Midoriko.The group found his bodyin the cave in Sango's village as well. If it does mention it,I missed it completely.(spoilers, those of you who haven't read that much of the newest manga and don't want to know, here's a warning).

This fanfic takes place at the very end of their journey, theortectically afterthe Jewel shards were taken finally from Kouga and then Kohaku, if that happens soon.I was inspired on this fic when Kikyo did take on Midoriko's soul though I don't think it will happen like this anyway. Kagome figures out that the Shikon no Tama's behavior shifts because the will of Midoriko wants the jewel to be complete. The jewel shards weaken in one of Kouga's battles. Then the manga continues but this fic takes off on the idea of Midoriko maybe losing some of her influence with the Jewel. So the story is the same until that point.

Yuki Haitani-I do love your fics! Don't worry about it. I've been away from the computer since school work started getting hectic. It's gotten alot better and I have more time to write now. I'm not good at math either, honestly. It's the bane of my existence. Thanks for your support on my fic, when you do so well with writing yourself. I'm checking out your fic right now! I know it will be excellent.

Please review.


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